All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 74: Charm Shadow

“Is it dead?” Baizhi walked over, her eyes full of sorrow.

“Yes. I used all my trump cards, but still couldn’t save it,” Zhanyue sighed. He had done his best, but the old cat demon still died. It had been the demon king of this area, extremely powerful, already at the peak of fifth grade. Unfortunately, when breaking through to sixth grade, it was found by a group of demons. They threatened the life of the little white cat, forcing it to end its seclusion prematurely, resulting in a failed breakthrough. Even so, the old cat demon had still rescued the little white cat with its powerful strength, but was then surrounded here.

Cleaning up the battlefield, Zhanyue obtained many fourth and fifth-grade beast cores from this battle. Fourth-grade beast cores were worth 500 to 800 points each, while fifth-grade ones were generally around 10,000 points. Unfortunately, there were no soul bones or soul cores, proving they were indeed extremely rare treasures.

One hundred low-grade spirit stones could be exchanged for one middle-grade spirit stone, one hundred middle-grade for one high-grade, and one hundred high-grade for one top-grade spirit stone. A top-grade spirit stone was worth 200,000 points. That fourth-grade spirit beast soul bone was worth 100,000 points, equivalent to fifty high-grade spirit stones or 500,000 low-grade spirit stones – a huge sum even in the immortal cultivation era.

With top-grade spirit stones as a reference, Zhanyue finally had another standard for pricing things within the secret realm.

He really wanted to see how many points the sixth-grade spirit beast soul core left by the old cat demon was worth, but he restrained himself. He was afraid that if he looked, he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to use it.

“Let’s go. The smell of blood is too strong here. If more fifth-grade spirit beasts come, I won’t be able to handle them,” Zhanyue said. Using the armor once consumed one top-grade spirit stone, which was 200,000 points – definitely a losing deal. This time he was willing to help mainly because he liked the cat demon family and was moved by the little black cat’s behavior. The materials and beast cores from the slaughtered spirit beasts weren’t worth the 200,000 points. Of course, the old cat demon’s beast core wasn’t included in this calculation.

Fifth-grade spirit beasts were equivalent to human Star Profound experts. Without using the armor, Zhanyue would struggle against even one fifth-grade spirit beast and might not win.

Now the two little cat demons seemed to have cried themselves out and were sleeping soundly in Baizhi’s arms. Baizhi was incredibly fond of these two little ones. The little white cat was only at the early stage of third grade, while the little black cat was only at the early stage of fourth grade. Their strength was far from sufficient here.

“Both females? I thought the little black cat was male, being so brave,” Zhanyue marveled. That little black cat, even knowing it might die, was unwilling to abandon its mother and sister to escape alone.

“By the way, how did you suddenly become so powerful? Fifth-grade fierce beasts are equivalent to Star Profound experts, but you killed them like chickens,” Baizhi couldn’t help but ask. This man was too mysterious.

“I told you, but you don’t believe me. It wasn’t my power, it was temporarily lent to me by the armor. The armor was the reward from the trial,” Zhanyue said.

Baizhi looked at Zhanyue suspiciously, “Really?”

“Why would I lie to you? I’ve never lied to you,” Zhanyue said.

Baizhi rolled her eyes, “Even if you’re not lying about passing the secret realm trial and getting the armor, it doesn’t mean you haven’t lied about other things. Don’t change the subject. You also said you had an eighth-grade alchemist master, but your pill refining technique is extremely poor, clearly showing no one has guided you!”

Zhanyue’s face reddened, and he defended himself: “There will definitely be an eighth-grade alchemist master, but that’s a future matter.”

Baizhi laughed at him again, “You even say it like that. You’re really shameless. Don’t let these two little cats learn bad habits from you.”

“Let’s go. There seems to be a cave ahead. Shall we try there?” Zhanyue asked.

“Try? Try what?” Baizhi’s eyes were full of confusion, then she seemed to think of something unpleasant, “You… you rogue, you’ve finally revealed your true nature!”

Zhanyue gave Baizhi’s head a tap, “What yellow garbage is filling your head? I meant try that soul bone and soul core.”

“Oh.” Baizhi lowered her head in embarrassment. What was wrong with her? Why did she keep thinking in that direction?

The two came to a cave and set it up well, taking pills to mask human scent.

“I wonder if these two little ones will become frenzied under the influence of the blood moon at night,” Zhanyue said, looking at the two little cats in their small nest. They didn’t look like spirit beasts at all.

The black cat opened its eyes, jumped onto Zhanyue’s shoulder, licked his cheek, pointed to the sky, then to itself, and shook its head.

“Oh, you can understand what I’m saying?” Zhanyue was very happy. Although this little cat couldn’t communicate with him through divine thought like its mother, it clearly had high intelligence and could understand his meaning. He really didn’t know how they did it. Its gestures clearly meant they wouldn’t be affected by the moon.

“What bloodline are you exactly?” Zhanyue couldn’t help but be curious. They were too special, these cat demons were too special. “In ancient times, they were very close to humans. I’m afraid their ancestors were truly some extraordinary great demon.”

Zhanyue took out the old cat demon’s beast core. The little white cat also smelled the familiar scent, opened its eyes, walked to the beast core and licked it, its eyes full of sadness. The little black cat beside it patted its sister’s head with its small paw to comfort her.

“Ah…” Zhanyue had Baizhi take them back, then began to use pill refining methods to explore this beast core with his soul power. Gradually adjusting the frequency of soul vibrations, he finally found the right frequency. The patterns on the beast core flashed periodically, but soon after, Zhanyue opened his eyes with a bitter smile.

“How is it?” Baizhi asked with concern.

“I found the method, but my soul strength isn’t enough,” Zhanyue said helplessly. His soul power couldn’t open the door to the treasure.

“Not enough soul power? You’re a fourth-grade alchemist, able to refine fourth-grade pills,” Baizhi didn’t understand.

Zhanyue knew that his soul power seemed strong but was actually an illusion. He relied on the Ghost Fruit in his body for timely replenishment. In gaming terms, his mana regeneration speed was very fast, but his mana cap wasn’t high enough. This beast core seemed to require a high enough mana cap to break through at once, which he couldn’t do.

“You try it,” Zhanyue handed the beast core to Baizhi and told her the method.

“Me? This… this isn’t right. Such a valuable thing, and… and you saved them,” Baizhi declined.

“This thing already belongs to me, so naturally I decide how to use it. Besides, the stronger you are, the more help you can be to me. You can’t always think about just watching from afar, can you?” Zhanyue said.

Hearing him say this, Baizhi reluctantly accepted. After all, she really didn’t want to keep being useless.

Sitting cross-legged, her soul power resonating with the beast core, Baizhi quickly entered the state. She was a proper fourth-grade alchemist, with the strongest soul power standard. Zhanyue saw the patterns on the beast core gradually fade and knew it was working. Time passed bit by bit. After several hours, Baizhi changed, with white smoke rising from her head, transforming her into a cat demon state.

Finally, the patterns on the beast core completely disappeared, becoming an ordinary sixth-grade beast core. Baizhi slowly opened her eyes, “My soul power is now no weaker than an ordinary Profound Being. I should be able to try refining fifth-grade pills, but my physical body hasn’t entered the Profound Realm yet. I’m afraid taking one fifth-grade Profound Entry Pill would immediately make me enter the Profound Realm.” Refining those patterns had greatly improved her.

“You must resist breaking through,” Zhanyue reminded her. If she entered the Profound Realm, she probably wouldn’t be able to enter this Azure Sky Secret Realm anymore.

“Mm, I know. I’ll suppress my realm,” Baizhi said. Her eyes looking at Zhanyue were particularly beautiful, full of deep meaning. She really hadn’t expected Zhanyue to be willing to give such an opportunity to her.

“Look,” Baizhi stood up, suddenly disappearing and reappearing behind Zhanyue, patting his shoulder. When Zhanyue turned his head, she appeared in front of him again. Her speed was so fast that Zhanyue’s eyes couldn’t keep up.

“I’ve mastered their innate divine ability – Charm Shadow,” Baizhi said, her tone somewhat heavy because she felt she owed too much of a debt of gratitude, impossible to repay!

“It’s the old cat demon’s skill!” Zhanyue was excited. Baizhi’s strength had greatly increased like this. “Why don’t you look very happy?” Zhanyue asked, puzzled.

Baizhi asked instead: “This divine ability should have been yours. Don’t you regret it?”

Zhanyue smiled and said: “So that’s it. I’ve said before, the stronger you are, the more help you can be to me. I would regret it if you died in the secret realm because of insufficient strength. Besides, I still have this.” Zhanyue picked up that fourth-grade soul bone.

“These things are much more useful than points. I think the prices those Ghost Shark clan members set for them are definitely lower than their actual value. Rather than benefiting the Ghost Shark clan, it’s better to arm ourselves,” Zhanyue sat cross-legged and began to refine the soul bone. He couldn’t refine the sixth-grade soul core, but this fourth-grade soul bone should be fine.

Baizhi nervously stood guard for him nearby, a smile appearing under her veil. “This man, he’s really…” She looked at Zhanyue and felt her heart rate quicken.