All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 65: Spirit Beasts and Spirit Pills (1)

Having crossed the Heavenly Moat River, the two finally breathed a sigh of relief. Feng Bulang had indeed simply collected money and ferried people across without any tricks.

“What a strange person,” Baizhi stuck out her tongue and complained.

“However, I’m a bit curious. Flying straight across would have been the shortest distance, but he flew at an angle, as if he had some purpose,” Zhanyue had actually been on guard against Feng Bulang the whole time, but the other party didn’t seem to have any ill intentions.

“The two gentlemen’s curiosity is not without reason,” a voice came, making Zhanyue and Baizhi’s hearts tighten. Had someone been eavesdropping on their conversation?

“Don’t be nervous,” a white figure walked over. The person was dressed like a young master in white, but wore a mask on his face. The mask was carved with a horse’s head, looking somewhat comical.

“I am Horse Face, though of course, that’s just a codename,” the white-robed Horse Face man said.

“What did you mean by your earlier words?” Zhanyue looked at him warily.

Horse Face laughed, “That flamboyant Feng Bulang intentionally brought you to me. There’s no need for you two to be nervous, I just want to make a deal with you.”

With that, Horse Face took out a scroll. When unrolled, it was clearly a map.

“I, Horse Face, have been in this realm for over ten months, more familiar with the terrain on this side of the river than most. Where it’s dangerous, where it’s safe, where there are opportunities – I’ve explored about thirty percent. Of course, I don’t dare go deeper with my strength,” Horse Face said. “This scroll is the map I’ve drawn. It only costs 2,000 points per copy. I’m sure you gentlemen know the principle of ‘to do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools’,” Horse Face said with a smile.

“A map?” Zhanyue was tempted. Indeed, where there are people, there’s not just a jianghu, but civilization.

“Then why don’t you explore yourself, instead of selling maps here?” Zhanyue asked further.

Horse Face seemed to know Zhanyue would ask this and replied, “I was injured during my previous explorations and it’s inconvenient to go to dangerous places again. But I still want to earn more points, as I’m just short of enough points to exchange for what I want. So I started selling maps here. Those willing to cross the river are all ambitious and naturally won’t begrudge these 2,000 points. I’ve already sold nearly a hundred copies of this map.”

“Nearly a hundred copies? That’s 200,000 points. You even reveal that you’re seriously injured. Aren’t you afraid we might rob you?” Zhanyue asked curiously.

Horse Face laughed, “I dare to be honest because I naturally have some strength. If nothing else, I have the ability to hold out for ten breaths to teleport away. Gentlemen, I see we have a connection. If you buy the map today, I’ll throw in a set of exploration notes, which will greatly benefit your exploration. What do you think?”

“I’ll buy it,” Zhanyue didn’t waste time. Although the map and notes might not be entirely trustworthy, they were much better than knowing nothing about the secret realm.

He took out spirit objects worth 2,000 points, and both parties happily completed the transaction. It was fortunate that the previous masked man’s “gift” had given Zhanyue sufficient starting funds.

Watching the two leave, Horse Face muttered to himself, “I hope they can return safely. Don’t throw away their lives for the Ghost Shark clan’s grand cause. We’re all just working for them, no need to risk our lives.”

Contrary to Zhanyue’s thoughts, Horse Face’s map was not only real but also carefully drawn by him.

“This Feng Bulang and Horse Face are not simple characters. I’ve underestimated the heroes of the world,” Zhanyue self-reflected. He had thought that with his many skills, he would be invincible below the Profound Realm. However, both Feng Bulang and Horse Face gave him a dangerous feeling. His realm was still too low; there were others besides him in the world who could kill across realms.

“I should be more careful when traveling in the future,” Zhanyue reminded himself, especially without the illumination Goddess’s protection.

“This secret realm is so strange. That masked man looked friendly but suddenly tried to kill us, while these two weirdos looked odd but turned out to be so easy to talk to,” Baizhi complained.

“That’s natural. The secret realm isn’t a zero-sum game. There’s both competition and cooperation. There are countless treasures here, more than enough for everyone. The difficulty is that some treasures aren’t easy to obtain, and at those times, cooperation is often the better choice. Of course, you can choose to kill and loot, but you don’t know others’ strengths. It’s a high-risk, high-reward method that may not suit everyone.

Both Feng Bulang and Horse Face are part of the collective exploration of the secret realm, although Feng Bulang is indeed quite despicable for destroying the bridge to force people to buy his service,” Zhanyue explained. Where there are people, there’s not just a jianghu but also civilization. Everyone will make the optimal choice based on their environment.

“How do you know everything? Unlike me, I don’t understand anything except pill refining,” Baizhi pouted.

“It’s normal that you don’t understand. You’ve been well protected by the Bai family since childhood, spending all your time on the way of pills. What else would you understand? But now, you should learn some things about being independent,” Zhanyue replied.

“It’s getting late. I heard them say there’s day and night in this secret realm, and the night seems very dangerous,” Zhanyue said, looking at the sky.

“Are there Nightmares in the secret realm too?” Baizhi asked, puzzled.

“I don’t know. Just because there aren’t any on Ghost Island doesn’t mean there aren’t any in the secret realm. And Nightmares aren’t the only danger.”

The two set up their tent. Since Baizhi had used her tent as a curtain, they could only share one tent now. The tent was placed under a large tree, which would provide some protection even in case of strong winds or heavy rain.

Soon, night fell. During the day, there was no sun but the secret realm was bright. At night, however, a blood moon hung in the sky, identical to the blood-red moon in the outside world. No sun during the day but a blood moon at night – Zhanyue didn’t know how the secret realm operated, but he knew this place was extraordinary.

For safety, Zhanyue still set up a light formation to illuminate the surrounding area.

“If you’re tired, you can rest first. I’ll take a look at this thing,” Zhanyue took out the exploration notes Horse Face had given.

“I’m not sleepy. What’s recorded in there? Tell me about it,” Baizhi moved close to Zhanyue’s side and asked. At this moment, she had removed her bamboo hat and hood, revealing her pretty face, looking delicate and charming.

“Coincidentally, he also recorded about the nights in the secret realm. There are no Nightmares at night, but there are blood-eyed beasts, not much different from those possessed by Nightmares. They seem to be influenced by the blood moon. What’s more terrifying is that they aren’t undead creatures and aren’t afraid of illumination stones, so light formations aren’t effective at night. Instead, we should use pills or formations that conceal our aura,” Zhanyue explained.

“Ah?” Both of them suddenly realized and hurriedly exited the tent. They saw a black panther charging towards them from not far away. The panther was jet black all over, with only a pair of blood-red eyes.

“Let me handle this. I can’t always be protected by you,” Baizhi was fired up.

Zhanyue nodded. Letting this girl experience more was good; the more help she could be to him, the better. Zhanyue now believed that many large families and powerful forces probably knew the secret of the Blood Jade Tokens. This place had a special realm for those below the Profound Realm and could exchange treasures – it was definitely a good place for training. Those who could get Blood Jade Tokens and come here were not ordinary people. Whether it was Baizhi, Feng Bulang, Horse Face, or himself, even that masked man with the paralyzing ability would be considered outstanding in the outside world.

Baizhi moved her body, ready for battle. When the black panther pounced, she crushed a pill, enveloping herself in white mist. She had already taken a breath-holding pill. The black panther entered the white mist and after inhaling a few breaths of the mist, it became drowsy and started staggering.

Another Blood Mist Pill was thrown out. The black panther, whose movements had slowed significantly, couldn’t dodge. As the Blood Mist Pill dispersed, the black panther instantly lost its strength, just like the Five Horses bandits, its power greatly reduced.

Baizhi walked over and, mustering her courage, stabbed a dagger into the black panther’s head. This was her first time personally finishing off an enemy. Her little heart was beating nervously until the black panther completely stopped moving. After all, she was still at the ninth stage of Soul Control.

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