All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 82: Soul Control Realm

“Take this, and this,” Baizhi placed bottle after bottle of pills in Zhanyue’s hands. “These pills will help you with your breakthrough.”

The fire lynx beside them couldn’t help but comment, “Little girl, you’re overthinking out of concern. With young Zhan’s talent, breaking through to the Soul Control Realm should be a piece of cake, right?”

Baizhi’s pretty face reddened again, “It’s not the same. I’ve heard that people with greater talent actually find it harder to break through realms. Zhanyue can match those at the ninth stage of Soul Control while still in the Spirit Communication Realm. We can’t be careless with his breakthrough.”

Zhanyue put away the pills and said to the fire lynx, “Senior, I’ll go break through now. Once my realm improves, I should be able to help you better.”

The fire lynx nodded. It had already mastered the Three Flavors Fire Fusion Technique and only needed to wait for Zhanyue. After all, this was their technique, and it was indeed much more difficult for Zhanyue to cultivate.

The fire lynx’s lair was very large. One of the newly excavated caves became Zhanyue’s breakthrough location. He closed the wooden door of the cave and settled his mind, sensing the changes in his internal realm.

In the lair, Baizhi watched the two little cat demons play-fighting, her eyes occasionally glancing towards the cave where Zhanyue was.

The little white cat had now advanced to a fourth-grade spirit beast, matching the little black cat’s level. The two little cat demons fought evenly, with the fire lynx guiding them from the side. Both beasts were growing extremely fast.

“Senior, can spirit beasts transform into human form?” Baizhi asked curiously.

The fire lynx nodded, “When spirit beasts break through to the eighth grade, they become Beast Emperors. This is the end point of cultivation for the vast majority of spirit beasts. Breaking through further to the ninth grade allows them to take human form. Of course, there are some exceptions. Some spirit beasts have transformation as their bloodline divine ability, allowing them to take human form at very low levels. These two little ones also have ancient divine beast bloodlines, so they have a chance to advance to ninth-grade spirit beasts and take human form. However, I, Old Xiang, have only reached the seventh grade after so many years. It’s incredibly difficult for spirit beasts to cultivate to the ninth grade.”

“I see. Senior, do you know how I can awaken the bloodline in my body?” Having learned about her Vermilion Bird bloodline, Baizhi naturally wanted to awaken this power.

The fire lynx shook its head, “I don’t know. Each divine beast race has different ways of awakening their bloodline. This matter might only be known by… no, the Vermilion Bird Palace has long been destroyed. Who knows if there are any other Vermilion Bird bloodlines left in the world? They might know.”

“Is the Vermilion Bird Palace from the previous era?” During these days of chatting, Baizhi had learned about the concept of eras. Simply put, before the break in civilization was the previous era, and after the break was the current era. ‘All Things as Contracts’, where everyone is born with a contract, appeared in this current era. The fire lynx’s bloodline memories came from the previous era, and it had grown up in this secret realm since childhood, not even knowing what a contract object was. From this, one could deduce that this secret realm was a remnant of the previous era, which explained why the things inside were not found in the outside world.

“Yes, I’ve always lived in the secret realm, knowing nothing of the changes outside. Based on what you’ve said before, the outside world has probably undergone earth-shattering changes. Even the demon race’s inheritance has been broken. The world only has fierce beasts and spirit beasts, but no demon beasts, and they can no longer transform,” the fire lynx explained.

Zhanyue sat cross-legged, mist swirling around his head. Advancing from the Spirit Communication Realm to the Soul Control Realm wasn’t a difficult matter, not comparable to entering the Profound Realm. The Spirit Contract Realm was when one just awakened their contract object, the Spirit Communication Realm allowed one to be more in tune with their contract object, while the Soul Control Realm represented absolute control over the contract object.

In the depths of Zhanyue’s consciousness sea, three contract objects surrounded the central spirit platform. First, the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron burst with light, its connection with Zhanyue becoming closer. After the advancement, the quality of pills Zhanyue could refine improved again. Then came the watch, the contract object containing the dao of time and causality, which emitted a blue-purple light. Zhanyue then felt his ‘State Reversal’ ability rise a level, able to regress stronger beings with greatly reduced consumption. Unfortunately, it still couldn’t restore those intangible things like spirit power, soul, memory, and such. When he regressed Cheng Lu before, he had only regressed his physical body, making him fall from the Profound Realm, but Cheng Lu’s soul realm had already entered the Profound. After taking the fifth-grade Profound Entry Pill granted by the Crown Princess, he was now a Profound Being.

The last contract object was a human-shaped light cluster, pale yellow like moonlight. Zhanyue knew it represented the illumination Goddess Xixuan. That light cluster became clearer and more human-shaped, bursting with intense light.

“Big sister?!” Zhanyue felt the long-lost mysterious connection return.

“Hm? You… you broke through?” The illumination Goddess’s tone was also a bit excited. She had been trying to contact Zhanyue all this time but always failed.

“Yes, I’m in a secret realm now. This secret realm is likely a remnant of the previous era. There’s some power on this Ghost Island and in this secret realm that even blocks our connection,” Zhanyue said.

“No… it won’t work. Our connection was forcibly opened by the evolution light during your realm breakthrough. I’m afraid it will be interrupted again soon,” the illumination Goddess said, sensing the increasingly weak connection.

“Big sister, wait for me in Pill City of the Thousand Beauties Women’s Kingdom…” Zhanyue quickly finished this sentence before feeling their connection break. He felt a bit frustrated, “Well, at least I reported that I’m safe.” This Ghost Island and secret realm truly weren’t places for normal communication.

Zhanyue then realized he had already reached the Soul Control Realm, his entire aura becoming more powerful. “Pity, I probably need to enter the Profound Realm before I can freely use that divine armor. Even though I’m at the Soul Control Realm now, I’m afraid I still need to rely on spirit stones to activate it.”

Zhanyue looked at the spirit fruits and pills beside him, thought for a moment, and decided not to end his seclusion. Instead, he consumed these pills and spirit fruits, continuing to improve his realm.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. By the time Zhanyue had digested all the pills and spirit fruits, he had reached the third stage of Soul Control.

“That should be enough. If I cultivate any further, Senior might get anxious.”

As soon as he left the cave, a familiar face greeted him. “Why did it take so long?” Baizhi’s face looked a bit haggard, her eyes showing both worry and some reproach.

“It’s fine now. Why do you look so tired?” Zhanyue stroked her small face tenderly.

“Ahem, stop showing your affection in front of Old Xiang. Young Zhan, you’ve gained quite a lot from this seclusion. Let’s focus on practicing the Three Flavors Fire Fusion Technique. You know you can only stay in the secret realm for a year at most,” the fire lynx urged. It was the most anxious one.

“Alright, Senior. I’ll take a bath and start right away. I feel uncomfortable all over after this seclusion,” Zhanyue said.

In a huge wooden tub, Zhanyue lay comfortably, enjoying a massage from a pair of small hands, feeling utterly content.

“Although we’re safe in this lair, what about the points?” Baizhi asked worriedly as she massaged Zhanyue.

“You’re still thinking about that eighth-grade pill formula? Don’t worry, I’ll figure out the points issue. But your problem can’t be solved by an eighth-grade pill formula. Leave it to me, okay?” Zhanyue patted Baizhi’s small hand, thinking to himself that he couldn’t possibly let Baizhi marry that Golden Pill Immortal. At worst, he’d have his big sister appear and smash that dog’s head.

“Mm,” Baizhi didn’t know what method Zhanyue had, but she chose to trust him unconditionally.