All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 70: -Trial Reward

Clad in red armor, Zhanyue now looked majestic, like a general assured of victory. The red armor’s cape danced like flames, exuding an overwhelming aura.

The ji halberd, infused with Solar Essence Fire, swept around. Each strike could harvest at least one high-level Nightmare, like a wolf among sheep or a whale swallowing fish. The true power of the Sun Divine Stone was finally released through this mysterious armor. Zhanyue, eyes reddened with battle fervor, entered a state of self-forgetfulness, reaching a new level in his control of power. No longer wastefully using power at random, he now used each bit of power just right, killing enemies without waste, with no excess damage.

“Oh? This youngster can actually enter the Realm of Self-Forgetfulness? Among the Four Battle Realms – Self-Forgetfulness, Invincibility, Ethereal, and Profound Entry – the Realm of Self-Forgetfulness is about absolute control over power, very suitable for the current environment,” the mysterious divine thought marveled. The so-called Four Battle Realms were four states people could enter during battle, with no distinction of superiority. The Realm of Self-Forgetfulness allowed perfect control over power without the slightest waste; the Realm of Invincibility could unleash one’s greatest potential, exerting strength far beyond current power; the Ethereal Realm could greatly enhance the five senses, improving eyesight, hearing, movement, and accuracy; the Realm of Profound Entry could connect with heaven and earth, absorbing large amounts of natural spirit energy to replenish oneself. These four realms didn’t conflict and couldn’t be taught; they were all realized by individuals themselves. Clearly, Zhanyue was naturally gifted in this.

This wasn’t the first time Zhanyue had entered the Realm of Self-Forgetfulness. Back in the dream when he borrowed the illumination Goddess’s power to suppress that Nightmare lord, he had also entered this realm. However, even the illumination Goddess didn’t know about the Four Battle Realms; this belonged to forgotten knowledge.

As the Sun Divine Stone gradually dimmed, only scattered white bones remained on the scorched earth. Unlike the one-time use top-grade spirit stones that shattered after use, the Sun Divine Stone wouldn’t break, but its energy would be depleted, needing to absorb sunlight to recharge.

Pulling the ji halberd out of the last skeleton, Zhanyue collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. He had no injuries, having single-handedly annihilated three thousand Nightmares. But Zhanyue wasn’t particularly proud, knowing this was the power of the Sun Divine Stone and the divine armor, not his own. More importantly, it was due to the Solar Essence Fire’s extreme effectiveness against Nightmares, making the originally hard-to-kill Nightmares extremely vulnerable. Even for a Spirit God Realm expert, killing these Nightmares wouldn’t be so easy – of course, except for light contractors.

A white gemstone flew over from afar, emitting a divine thought.

“To think the secret realm this old man set up was broken by you, a junior. Someone of such a low realm actually passed the Red Lotus Trial. Truly, the world is vast and full of wonders.”

“You… Senior, this trial was set up by you? I passed the test? Who exactly are you?” Zhanyue replied. He couldn’t understand the old man’s words but could comprehend their meaning, which itself was the old man’s great divine ability.

“Who am I? I’m just a remnant consciousness, with all memories related to this trial, only executing related matters. I know you have many questions for me, but it’s meaningless. I don’t know the answers. Perhaps in the future, you’ll have a chance to meet my true self. You can ask him then. I dare not speak my true self’s name,” the old man replied.

Zhanyue was greatly disappointed. He had hoped to ask the old man about the Azure Sky Secret Realm and the Ghost Shark clan, but now it seemed his wish would go unfulfilled.

“The Red Lotus Trial was set up by my true self to help his disciple Ji Honglian find an heir for the Moon-Reflecting Armor. Only an unparalleled genius could pass. But you first used earth burrowing to bypass the first eight levels of trials, then used strange methods to stop the armor’s transformation to pass the armor trial, and finally used that mysterious energy stone’s countering effect to pass the final battlefield trial. Ah, you cheated,” the old man sighed.

“Senior, you can’t say that. The fact that I can successfully stand before you is naturally due to my ability,” Zhanyue said anxiously, fearing this old fellow wouldn’t acknowledge his success. Although he knew he had indeed relied on some tricks to pass the trial rather than his true strength, but then again, weren’t the earth burrowing technique, State Reversal, and Sun Divine Stone all his possessions?

“Senior, if you didn’t allow the use of earth burrowing to skip classes, why didn’t you apply restrictions from the first level of the trial? Then I wouldn’t have been able to burrow down, right?” Zhanyue countered.

“Well… this… As the ancient saying goes, even the wisest can make mistakes. My true self only thought about earth burrowing when setting up the last level of the trial. He’s lazy by nature and couldn’t be bothered to go back and add restrictions. Who would have thought you’d actually find this loophole. Why are you so anxious, kid? I didn’t say I wouldn’t acknowledge your trial results,” the divine thought replied.

Zhanyue’s face lit up with joy. Passing such a terrifying trial at such a low realm was like a heaven-sent blessing. However, no other Spirit Communication realm cultivator or even a slightly weaker Profound Being in the world could have passed that armor test. The armor was too powerful. Zhanyue had relied entirely on cheating methods.

“Then Senior, is there any reward for passing the trial?” Zhanyue asked excitedly.

“Reward? Isn’t the reward already on your body?” the divine thought laughed. “This armor is called the Moon-Reflecting Armor, forged jointly by a god-level forging master and a god-level formation master. It’s itself a divine artifact, and even you can use it.”

“Ah?” Zhanyue was somewhat disappointed. He was naturally very satisfied with this armor, which even he could use despite his low realm, and it could fully unleash the power of the Sun Divine Stone. But he hadn’t expected just this one set of armor as a reward. “Senior, you might not know, but although this armor is good and has recognized me as its master, I can’t take it out of here,” Zhanyue explained about the fragrant pouch situation. He couldn’t take this armor away; wouldn’t it ultimately benefit the Ghost Shark clan?

“That’s easy. My true self really is prescient,” the divine thought replied, and then an exquisite ring appeared before Zhanyue.

“This?” Zhanyue was overjoyed. “A spatial ring, suitable for this secret realm?”

Zhanyue hurriedly claimed ownership and eagerly inspected it. The space inside this spatial ring was extremely large, a full twenty cubic meters, like a small room. Inside were only ten green stones – ten top-grade spirit stones. These were left by the true self who set up the trial for those who passed. The spatial ring itself wasn’t the focus; those top-grade spirit stones were clearly meant to be used with the divine armor. However, in Zhanyue’s eyes, the value of those ten top-grade spirit stones was far less than this spatial ring.

“So you’re saying I can avoid the Ghost Shark clan’s inspection and take things from inside the secret realm out?” Zhanyue was elated. When leaving Ghost Island, the fragrant pouch would have to be handed over, and there might be body searches. Items from inside the secret realm couldn’t be taken out, but now with this ring! Zhanyue had a sudden idea, and with a thought, this spatial ring was actually stored inside his original spatial ring.

“Space within space, isn’t this against the rules?” Zhanyue was shocked.

“The spatial laws of your two spatial tools are different, so naturally they can accommodate each other. As for that fragrant pouch, it’s obviously been tampered with, so it can’t be put into other spaces. The person who made these fragrant pouches must also be a master-level artifact refiner, very impressive,” the divine thought explained.

Zhanyue was relieved. Now he could put items from inside the secret realm into this spatial ring, then put the spatial ring into the ring the Holy Maiden gave him. No matter how capable the Ghost Shark clan was, they surely couldn’t discover this, right?

“Wait, Senior, why can’t my original ring store things from inside the secret realm, but it can store this spatial ring?” Zhanyue asked, puzzled.

After pondering, the divine thought answered: “Fortunately, your question hasn’t exceeded my knowledge base. This spatial ring is made from materials from outside, not materials from inside the secret realm, so naturally it can be stored. Those fragrant pouches should be the same in principle; they wouldn’t be made from materials inside the secret realm. According to what you said, the Ghost Shark clan can’t enter the secret realm, so how could they have so many materials to make so many storage fragrant pouches? They just made some additional modifications. As for how to adapt to different spatial laws, that’s beyond my knowledge.”

Zhanyue’s eyes lit up, “I understand. Senior, you’re saying this spatial ring and the fragrant pouch are like Apple computers that have been loaded with Microsoft systems, so they can install Microsoft software.”

“What Apple and Microsoft? I don’t understand what you’re talking about. You’ve passed the trial and received your reward. It’s time for you to leave,” the divine thought issued a polite dismissal. Soon after, a teleportation formation lit up nearby.

“Ah… my mission is finally complete.” The stone instantly lost its luster. This remnant consciousness was no different from a program segment, automatically deleting itself once the task was completed.

Stepping onto the formation, Zhanyue found himself back in the cave in the blink of an eye. But now it was daylight; he had been gone for a day and a night.

“I wonder if that trial ground has disappeared. If it hasn’t, when later geniuses pass the first eight levels and reach the ninth level, only to find it empty, how will they feel? Probably as bad as eating shit,” Zhanyue grinned mischievously.

“Let’s head back first. With this spatial ring, I don’t need to work for the Ghost Shark clan anymore,” Zhanyue stretched lazily, feeling his future was bright.