All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 84: Progress

In the fire lynx’s lair, Zhanyue held his breath and focused, extending one finger. At the fingertip, a blue flame the size of a peanut condensed – it was the Earth Vein Ghost Fire. Then, like a bullet, Zhanyue shot out this peanut-sized flame. The flame struck a rock, instantly piercing through it and leaving a finger-sized hole with uncooled lava inside.

“Combining the power of Earth Vein Ghost Fire and Solar Essence Fire, this fireball may be as small as a bullet, but it’s incomparably more powerful than before. I’ll call it ‘Heaven-Burning Finger’ from now on. Hopefully, one day it can reach the level of a divine-grade ultimate skill,” Zhanyue said to himself, satisfied.

After the fire lynx’s patient guidance, Zhanyue’s fire control level now far surpassed his previous abilities. Based on Flame King Blast and his own characteristics, he developed two new ultimate skills. One was this ‘Heaven-Burning Finger’. Zhanyue estimated that ‘Heaven-Burning Finger’ had improved by one grade compared to ‘Flame King Blast’, reaching the level of an orange-grade technique, not far from a red-grade one.

Then, Zhanyue fully activated his fire power. Behind him, a golden sun and a blue moon rose simultaneously – the Solar Essence Fire and Earth Vein Ghost Fire.

“Sun and Moon Shine Together!” Zhanyue threw both fireballs at the fire lynx.

“Star Spinning Flame!” The fire lynx spat out a purple flame from its mouth. The flame instantly formed a fire tornado, swallowing both fireballs. Then a terrifying explosion erupted, blowing things in the cave into disarray. The cave became scorching hot, with waves of heat.

Beads of sweat appeared on Baizhi’s forehead, and the two little cats trembled in her arms, frightened.

“Alright, stop fighting. You’re going to tear down the cave,” Baizhi spoke up to stop them.

“Young Zhan, you really are progressing at an astonishing speed. Come, let’s try the Three Flavors Fire Fusion Technique again,” The fire lynx’s body moved, instantly absorbing all the heat in the cave, cooling it down.

The human and beast sat facing each other again. Golden, blue, and purple flames converged above their heads, gradually fusing into a black flame. The black flame emitted a terrifying aura. The fire lynx’s eyes showed both excitement and fear – if this flame went out of control, its cave would probably be instantly incinerated.

“Good! Let’s try!” The fire lynx controlled the flame, placing it under the already set up Diamond Fruit.

Under the scorching of the black flame, the God-Forging Steel encasing the Diamond Fruit finally showed signs of melting.

“Senior… I have a request…” Zhanyue said somewhat embarrassedly.

“I know what you want. I only need the flesh of the Diamond Fruit. The God-Forging Steel shell is useless to me, as I can’t forge artifacts, and I can’t melt it without you. It’s yours,” the fire lynx said generously.

“Thank you, Senior!” Zhanyue was overjoyed. Just a small amount of this God-Forging Steel could be exchanged for a million points. Melting it all might be worth over ten million points. Of course, Zhanyue wouldn’t be foolish enough to exchange it all for points. He estimated exchanging for two million points would be enough; any more and the Ghost Shark clan would become suspicious.

The melted God-Forging Steel instantly solidified into spheres. Each small sphere was worth about 100,000 points.

“Now we don’t have to struggle desperately for points anymore,” Zhanyue was delighted, having resolved one concern.

However, after refining for a long time, they had only melted part of the bottom of the God-Forging Steel. Zhanyue was the first to run out of spirit power and couldn’t continue. The Solar Essence Fire also needed to replenish energy.

“Let’s stop here for today and continue tomorrow,” The fire lynx was even happier than Zhanyue. The flesh of the Diamond Fruit was within reach. In a few days, he and Zhanyue would be able to completely refine its shell.

Putting away the God-Forging Steel spheres, these ten spheres were worth a million points. Nothing was more suitable for exchanging into points than these. Firstly, Zhanyue couldn’t forge artifacts. Secondly, without the fire lynx’s help, these steel spheres were useless to him. Thirdly, there was plenty of God-Forging Steel left, so he didn’t feel too bad about giving some to the Ghost Shark clan.

“The ‘Thousand Hands Fire God’ pill refining technique worth 500,000 points, the ‘Ancient Scripts of Hundred Races Annotations’ worth 800,000 points – these two items must be obtained. But there’s no need to exchange for too many points to avoid suspicion. As for the eighth-grade pill formula that Baizhi wants, there’s no need to exchange for it at all. I still have two formulas myself. If there’s a real need, I can just bring them out,” Zhanyue had made some plans by now. As for the origin of the God-Forging Steel, he had already prepared an explanation.

After thinking, Zhanyue told Baizhi his ideas. When she heard that Zhanyue wanted to give her the ‘Thousand Hands Fire God’ pill refining technique, she repeatedly shook her head in refusal. But Zhanyue said:

“You know that my cauldron is the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron. Its main function is purification. Having the ‘Thousand Hands Fire God’ technique is just icing on the cake for me, but for you, it’s like sending charcoal in snowy weather. After all, your Heavenly King Bronze Cauldron is just an ordinary alchemy furnace before it’s unsealed. And once you master the ‘Thousand Hands Fire God’, you can naturally teach me.”

Hearing this, Baizhi nodded, her eyes fixed on Zhanyue, saying resentfully, “I know exactly what you’re up to, but I can’t bring myself to dislike it. It’s all your fault!”

“Uh,” Zhanyue knew this little girl had seen through his attempt to gain favor. He said with a straight face, “I remember someone actively asking me to kiss her. Or am I remembering wrong?”

Baizhi’s face flushed red, and she said angrily, “Don’t say that.”

“Ahem,” The fire lynx walked over, interrupting their flirtatious banter. “It’s time to eat.” The fire lynx handed the roasted meat to them.

“Thank you, Senior,” Zhanyue took two legs of some unknown animal and gave them to the two little cats.

“Senior, since you know about the Red Lotus Trial, you must know about other trial grounds, right?” Zhanyue asked curiously.

The fire lynx didn’t hide anything, “I’ve traveled all over this secret realm and have seen many trial and inheritance grounds, but they’re all left for humans. I can’t participate. It’s strange, there are too many human trials in this secret realm. But those youngsters who come in are too weak, they don’t even have the ability to discover these trials.”

“There are a large number of human inheritances in the secret realm?” Zhanyue’s eyes widened. It wasn’t strange for trials to appear in secret realms, but the appearance of many inheritances was odd. Did so many senior experts leave their legacies in this secret realm?

“I know what you’re thinking, kid. With your current strength, you absolutely can’t pass those trials. However, some trial creators were kind-hearted. Even if you fail their trials, nothing will happen to you. Even when I, a spirit beast, forcibly entered, I wasn’t harmed. After you help me refine the Diamond Fruit, I’ll take you to try. After all, failing those trials shouldn’t result in any punishment,” the fire lynx said.

Zhanyue nodded. If that was the case, it was worth a try. He wasn’t sure about the first few levels of the Red Lotus Trial, but the ninth level was definitely very dangerous. If you couldn’t defeat that armor, you’d likely be killed. It seems the mysterious old man who set up the Red Lotus Trial wasn’t a kind person.