Chapter 31: Tree Contract
Inside the wooden cabin, the blind old man pulled a small shelf from the wall beside him. Divine bones, divine energy condensates, and an Archery Grandmaster scroll were all displayed on it.
Su Xiao could be certain that the blind old man was not entirely from this world. He had likely signed a very special contract—not with Reincarnation Paradise. If he had, the blind old man would have been defaulted as a neutral unit on their side.
Su Xiao deduced this because of the existence of scroll-type items. Only those with an imprint could use or hold such items.
Based on his experience, Su Xiao speculated that the blind old man had signed a Tree Contract, meaning a contract with the Void Tree.
This type of contract was unique. After signing, the contractor remained in their original world, possessing very few permissions. They could exchange specific items as payment to obtain goods not available in their world through the Void Tree's authority.
For instance, considering the blind old man's current aura, under normal circumstances, he should have died of old age long ago. Yet he hadn't. Instead, some ability had locked his life force, placing him in a state between life and death.
The blind old man's trading partners were extensive. He not only traded with contractors who came here but more often with the Tianba Clan.
The Tianba Clan hadn't killed him, nor had they captured him or looted his possessions. This indicated he held a very special status among them.
Whether it was the divine bones or the divine energy condensates, they were likely spoils the Tianba Clan obtained from the corpses of ancient gods they had slain.
"Give me Ba Souls. Anything I have, I can sell to you."
The blind old man let out a hoarse laugh. He was actually trapped as well, confined within the Divine Realm. However, as a signatory of the Tree Contract, he didn't care where he was. On the contrary, for him, the Divine Realm was a good place.
Su Xiao had encountered beings like the blind old man a few times before—once in the Moon God's underground palace and once in the Death House.
Such beings shared a common trait: they were all extremely old, either old men or old women. If you wanted to trade with them, they only accepted specific currencies or items.
In the past, Su Xiao's knowledge was limited. As his rank increased, his perspective broadened significantly. He now categorized these beings into the same group: signatories of the Tree Contract.
In most cases, trading with such individuals yielded considerable benefits. As for attempting to kill them to seize their belongings, it was best not to entertain that idea.
Su Xiao had once heard a story. A member of the Traveling Group tried it, attacking a blacksmith who had signed a Tree Contract. The result? An old-age hot-blooded drama unfolded, and that Traveling Group member nearly died.
The blacksmith was furious, and the consequences were severe. It was said that the member was brutally beaten by the blacksmith. Two punches later, he was critically injured and on the verge of death. Other Paradise contractors witnessing this were dumbfounded. Not long before, that same Traveling Group member had just killed the final boss of that world, finishing the fight in under five minutes.
Let's just say it was fortunate he was a Traveling Group member. For an ordinary contractor, even dozens of lives wouldn't have been enough.
Don't be fooled by the blind old man's half-dead appearance. If he stood up from that broken wooden chair, he would at least be on the same level as the Giant King.
Su Xiao didn't care how strong the blind old man was. The Tree Contract had many restrictions. For example, as long as a Paradise contractor didn't actively attack a Tree Contract signatory, the signatory absolutely could not strike first—not even through indirect harm.
Su Xiao originally had 40 Ba Souls, but the blind old man had just consumed one.
"I never said I wanted to exchange items with you, yet you just ate something that belonged to me."
Su Xiao didn't immediately start trading. The reason was that he didn't want to lose a Ba Soul for nothing.
"The Tianba Clan also does business with me. I have an agreement with their two leaders: no matter what happens, their clansmen cannot use force inside my wooden cabin."
The blind old man's words seemed disjointed, but he was subtly indicating that this cabin was a safe zone. If there was an emergency, Su Xiao could take refuge here. That one Ba Soul wouldn't be returned.
"Deal."
"I've been hungry for many years. Take a look at what you need."
The blind old man tapped the small shelf beside him with his withered fingers. Seeing this, Su Xiao began to exchange items.
First, Su Xiao exchanged for a [Divine Energy Condensate]. He wanted to test whether this item could improve the quality of Divine Judgment and whether it could be "consumed."
He handed 20 Ba Souls to the blind old man. Without any visible action from the old man, a pale red crystal on the shelf floated over. This crystal was about the size of a fist, with a faint bird-like image inside.
Besides exchanging for one [Divine Energy Condensate], Su Xiao also spent 3 Ba Souls to exchange for a [Divine Bone (Epic)].
Unfortunately, there was only one Epic-grade divine bone. If there had been one more, Su Xiao would have had three, allowing him to synthesize an Epic-grade [Divine Miracle]. Combined with the Holy Spirit-grade [Divine Miracle] in his storage space, he could upgrade Fate Dominator from Legendary all the way to Holy Spirit.
He was just one Epic-grade divine bone short. Previously, Su Xiao had always thought divine bones were useless—until he obtained one.
[You have received a Divine Energy Condensate.]
[You have received a Divine Bone (Epic).]
He now had 16 Ba Souls left. Obtaining these was extremely difficult, but using them up happened in the blink of an eye.
Su Xiao walked out of the small cabin. Once outside, he sat cross-legged under a parasol tree beside the cabin. A gentle breeze blew, sending brownish-yellow leaves falling down.
First, Su Xiao needed to determine whether the [Divine Energy Condensate] could be "consumed." The energy of ancient gods couldn't be consumed, but ancient gods and the old gods were not from the same divine lineage.
Dark blue smoke surged around Su Xiao's hand, and his brow furrowed. The energy inside this [Divine Energy Condensate] could originally be consumed to enhance his Azure Steel Shadow ability. But now, it couldn't. The energy had lost its activity, unlike essence-type items that could maintain activity for decades or even centuries.
Discovering that the [Divine Energy Condensate] couldn't be consumed, Su Xiao removed the Divine Judgment ring from his finger and touched it to the condensate.
Ripple~
A wave spread out. Cracks appeared on the [Divine Energy Condensate], and Divine Judgment began absorbing the energy inside. Seeing this, Su Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.
Divine Judgment absorbed the divine energy quickly. In less than a few minutes, the [Divine Energy Condensate] in Su Xiao's hand turned into residue.
Checking Divine Judgment's attributes, its growth had reached 62%. Excluding the Wolf God energy it had previously devoured, it would need at most two more [Divine Energy Condensates] to advance to Holy Spirit rank.
There were many places where Ba Souls were needed. For example, the [Secret Technique: Heavenly Flow] scroll. Su Xiao really wanted to exchange for this item, but its price was 450 Ba Souls.
[Secret Technique: Heavenly Flow] was a blade technique skill. Its price was more than three times that of the [Archery Grandmaster Scroll], which was enough to show its value.
Su Xiao wasn't exchanging for [Secret Technique: Heavenly Flow] to use the scroll directly. For him, that would be a waste of a precious treasure.
[Secret Technique: Heavenly Flow] was clearly a secret technique of the Tianba Clan, a blade skill refined over a long period of time. With Su Xiao's understanding of blade techniques, he could study the records on this scroll, use them as inspiration, and with the assistance of the Land of All Beings, develop a skill more suited to himself that was no weaker than Heavenly Flow.
This wasn't arrogance on Su Xiao's part. The Tianba ancestors who developed [Secret Technique: Heavenly Flow] were indeed admirable. But if, after mastering their achievements, he couldn't develop his own blade techniques, then his blade training would have been in vain.
Su Xiao's plan was to use his own blade skill level to study the records on the [Secret Technique: Heavenly Flow] scroll without consuming it, develop a blade skill more suited to himself, and then sell the scroll to maximize his gains.