All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 73: Entrusting the Orphans

The three fifth-grade spirit beasts stood back-to-back, supporting each other. Faced with Zhanyue’s lightning-fast methods, they were all afraid.

A giant snake over ten meters long flicked its enormous tongue, watching Zhanyue warily. To its left was a huge toad, as big as a small mountain, pitch black all over, with poison sacs secreting purple liquid – undoubtedly a terrifying poisonous creature. To the snake’s right was a centipede with a hundred feet, arching its body over three meters high, fire-red all over, with eyes like gemstones.

The old black cat struck first. It harbored deep hatred for these beasts. It had been the demon king of this area, but these subordinates took advantage of its failed breakthrough to unite and try to kill its entire family. It charged towards the giant snake, its terrifying figure turning into a black light, instantly leaving a bloody mark on the snake’s face. But the fifth-grade python’s skin was thick and tough; this small wound couldn’t threaten its life. It swept its tail, which the black cat nimbly dodged.

The giant toad and centipede wanted to help, but Zhanyue attacked at this moment.

“Your opponents are me,” Zhanyue revealed a slight smile, hoping these two creatures could give him some pressure.

The toad opened its mouth, spitting out a terrifying air cannon carrying purple poison gas.

“Activate poison gas protection formation,” the armor automatically reacted. Formation lights flickered on its surface, the helmet transformed to add a mask-like protection, covering Zhanyue’s mouth and nose. At the same time, a light screen formed around him. As Zhanyue dodged the air cannon, the light screen also blocked the purple gas.

With a flash, Zhanyue jumped to a high point above the toad’s head. Roaring flames entwined the ji halberd in his hand.

“Flame King Blast!” Zhanyue was now adept at using this ultimate skill with weapons. The terrifying ji halberd left his hand, turning into a horrifying meteor fire cone, falling straight to the ground, pinning the toad down with one strike. Solar Essence Fire burned its internal organs, and the fifth-grade toad instantly became a charred corpse.

“Digging into the ground to escape?” Zhanyue revealed a disdainful smile.

The centipede hadn’t run away, but suddenly emerged from beneath Zhanyue’s feet. However, it pounced at empty air; Zhanyue wasn’t standing there. Just as it was confused, a terrifying force erupted from underground. The ji halberd, carrying endless power, cut the centipede in half at the waist. Purple poisonous blood splattered everywhere, but Zhanyue, who had retreated underground, was completely unaffected.

When he emerged elsewhere, the centipede, cut into two halves, was dead beyond dead. Fifth-grade spirit beasts were ultimately no match under armor mode.

Zhanyue turned his head to look at the other battlefield and drew in a sharp breath. The ground had been flattened by the giant snake, but the once imposing giant snake was now cut into five or six pieces.

Just as the black cat and Zhanyue thought the battle was over, a black shadow turned into a residual image and plunged towards the ground. It was an eagle with a wingspan of five or six meters, one claw grabbing the little black cat and the other grabbing the little white cat, fleeing towards the distance. It wasn’t a spirit beast from this area, just accidentally witnessing the conflict below. The two little cat demons had special bloodlines; if it could devour their bloodlines alive, it would definitely break through to the sixth grade.

Zhanyue could only frown as he watched the black eagle fly away. He couldn’t fly and could only watch as the other took the two little cats away. The old black cat, seeing its children being taken away, naturally wasn’t willing to give up. Terrifying black flames erupted from its body as it forcibly broke through to the sixth grade by burning its beast soul. After reaching the sixth grade, a pair of black wings grew from its back, its body enlarged, looking like a winged black tiger. With one flap of its wings, it turned into a black light and gave chase.

Before long, it returned, with the two little cats lying on its back and bloody feathers in its mouth. As soon as it landed, its entire body instantly shrank, shedding its wings.

“How are you?” Zhanyue was moved by the old cat demon’s determination to save its children at all costs and wanted to save it. However, he now discovered that the old cat demon’s soul was incomplete, like a candle in the wind. Even if he used State Reversal, he could only heal its surface injuries and had no way to help its fading soul.

“I’m dying. Before I go, I want to make a deal with you,” the cat demon’s divine thought entered Zhanyue’s mind. This spirit beast could communicate with him?

“Don’t be alarmed. My clan’s bloodline is extraordinary. We had deep interactions with humans in ancient times. Communicating with you is not difficult. I don’t have much time left, so I’ll be brief. I hope you can help take care of my two children. As thanks, I will leave behind a beast core with a bloodline imprint. Whether it’s a soul bone or soul core, it can give humans the possibility of mastering spirit beast talents, which is very valuable. Our clan’s bloodline is special, and only under voluntary circumstances can we leave behind a soul core, unlike other spirit beasts who can’t control their bloodlines. If you agree, make a heavenly oath.”

“Is that so?” Zhanyue was shocked. What kind of ancient strange species was this cat demon? A heavenly oath was no ordinary oath. Breaking it would give birth to heart demons, severely affecting future cultivation. Generally, after making a heavenly oath, one couldn’t easily break it. Of course, if you didn’t care about the future, you could be faithless, but most people had no reason to do so.

“But I don’t know how long I can stay in the secret realm,” Zhanyue thought of this, then suddenly saw the little cats running to their mother’s side crying. He said to them, “Don’t resist, let me try something.”

The old cat demon also told them to obey Zhanyue.

Zhanyue took out the spatial ring he got from the Red Lotus Trial. The spatial laws inside that ring were the same as those of these secret realm spirit beasts, but he didn’t know how strong the spatial laws were and whether they could accommodate these spirit beasts.

With a thought from Zhanyue, the two little beasts didn’t resist and were instantly collected into the ring.

“They can really be put in?” Zhanyue was overjoyed. A spatial ring that could hold living things must have very profound spatial laws. Unfortunately, this ring’s spatial laws were adapted to the secret realm space; he couldn’t put things or living beings from the outside world into it. “I’m still a bit greedy,” Zhanyue couldn’t help thinking. The ring the Holy Maiden gave him was far less powerful than this one, but that ring was adapted to the outside world and was also very important to him.

Seeing that Zhanyue could carry the two little ones with him, the old cat demon also breathed a sigh of relief. This human had many secrets; it wouldn’t be bad for its two children to follow him.

“I swear to the heavenly way that I will do my best to protect and care for these two little ones,” Zhanyue said.

Seeing Zhanyue make the oath, the old cat demon’s last breath was about to dissipate. Zhanyue released the two little ones, and the old cat demon looked at them reluctantly, finally licking them, its eyes full of attachment and reluctance to part.

“Cat demon senior, how… how do I use these soul bones and soul cores?” Zhanyue originally didn’t want to interrupt their final tender moment; this was a bit too mood-breaking. But he knew that if he didn’t ask now, he might not be able to use the soul core even if he got it.

The old cat demon didn’t blame Zhanyue, answering with intermittent divine thoughts: “Use soul power to communicate, find the right frequency, resonate with it, then… then you can… Don’t forget your oath, they are… entrusted to you… to take care of.”

After saying this, the old cat demon closed its eyes. Its entire demon body flashed with golden light, leaving behind only a chicken egg-sized beast core covered in golden patterns. The old cat demon had even fused its entire body’s power into the beast core, ultimately not even leaving a corpse behind.

The two little cats looked at the beast core in bewilderment. Zhanyue put it away and picked up the two little cats.

“Little ones, from now on, you’re with me.”