Chapter 18: The Contract
Su Xiao and Kaisa's plan succeeded, but not completely. The first kill of Beast Morakchi yielded 8.6% of the World Source, but the second kill dropped to 7.9%.
Beast Morakchi initially revived every five hours. After Su Xiao and Kaisa increased the energy output of the ritual, this time was reduced to once every two hours. This was the limit; increasing the energy output further would risk the "Dark Ritual" exploding.
It was now two in the early morning, with over fifty hours remaining until the next Dark Tide.
Due to Su Xiao's repeated use of "Extreme Blade: Heavy Moon" here, the originally black sandy ground had been compressed to be relatively flat and harder than steel, making the "Dark Ritual" resting upon it more stable.
Above the dark formation was a hollow hexagonal crystal, over ten meters in diameter. This was constructed by Su Xiao using 2.7 million mana points, converted into Proud Song crystals. Its inherent strength was astonishing, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of layers of sealing runes on its surface.
This hexagonal crystal precisely enveloped a black dot in mid-air at its center. After Beast Morakchi's 'respawn point' refreshed twice, it stabilized here. It wasn't that Beast Morakchi couldn't choose its own resurrection location; it was forcibly dragged here by the "Dark Ritual" to resurrect.
Inside this hexagonal crystal were over a dozen "Beast Cores." These "Beast Cores" were now bouncing around at ultra-high speed within the crystal, occasionally leaving black marks in space, demonstrating their power.
This meant that as soon as Beast Morakchi resurrected, before it could react, it would be riddled like a sieve by the "Beast Cores" and sent back to the Abyss to resurrect. It was essentially an automated elite boss farming system.
Just a few minutes ago, Su Xiao had conducted a preliminary test. After a few defenses, Beast Morakchi was continuously penetrated. As for its signature weapon, unfortunately, that black spear had vanished without a trace after encountering Kaisa.
The problem was that this third kill only granted Su Xiao 3.5% of the World Source. Considering Beast Morakchi's faster resurrection rate, it was still profitable overall.
Initially, Beast Morakchi faced this situation with high morale. But after Su Xiao increased the number of "Beast Cores" to thirty, Beast Morakchi entered an unbreakable cycle: resurrect → die → wait for resurrection → resurrect → die.
With each kill of Beast Morakchi, Su Xiao's wariness of the Abyss Descendants didn't decrease; instead, it grew stronger. Even doing this couldn't finish it off. If it weren't for maxing out the Demon Spirit intensity of the "Blade Demon Spirit" and obtaining the "Causal Severance" ability, he would have no real way to deal with Abyss Descendants.
"Causal Severance (Passive): After killing an 'Abyss Descendant,' you may choose to activate this trait. The 'Blade Demon Spirit' in its killing state will forcibly tear the 'Causal Life Source' of the slain 'Abyss Descendant' from its family's 'Ancestral Clan Emblem,' causing it to be completely annihilated due to this kill.
Uses per world: 2/2 times."
It seemed that destroying its "Ancestral Clan Emblem" would kill it. The problem was that the "Ancestral Clan Emblem" was most likely within the Abyss. Daring to enter the Abyss rashly would inevitably lead to utter ruin. Fortunately, Su Xiao possessed the current strongest title in the Star Realm, [Abyssal Shadow].
"Title Effect 3: Abyss Walker (Core, Passive): Upon entering the Abyss, you will not suffer environmental erosion and will not emit the aura of an 'Outsider.'"
Looking at this title effect now, it was indeed incredibly powerful. Without this title ability, Su Xiao would have had no hope in the previous world of destroying the Dukain family's "Ancestral Clan Emblem."
Someone like Ximan Aqide, a peerless madman who charged alone into the Abyss and struck the Dukain family's "Ancestral Clan Emblem" with his blade, was unique from the First Era to the Third Era of the Star Realm.
Su Xiao sat on a crystal chair, waiting for Beast Morakchi to resurrect diagonally above him. He didn't let the "Beast Cores" bounce randomly; instead, he controlled them to avoid Beast Morakchi's three hearts as much as possible. This was difficult but served as good practice for controlling the "Beast Cores."
The "Beast Core" wasn't a new ability. Simply put, it was an enhanced version of "Blood Beast," compressed using the compression method of "Blood Smoke Cannon." Or rather, Su Xiao originally intended to use "Blood Beast" to perform "Blood Smoke Cannon," but found that compressing "Blood Beast" was different from compressing pure blood energy.
As for whether the "Beast Core" could be used in actual combat, the answer was no. This move had too strict requirements for the environment and was indiscriminate. If the bounce angle was off and it hit Su Xiao himself, it would leave a bloody hole in him. However, it was the top choice for setting traps.
He checked the time. There was still an hour and a half until Beast Morakchi's next resurrection. Just then, the communicator in his pocket rang. It was from Leshma. He answered, and Leshma on the other end reported a spatial coordinate.
Crack, crack, crack~
Proud Song crystals formed a Law-Destroying Teleportation Array. Su Xiao tossed a metal sphere onto it and activated the teleportation.
Boom! The metal sphere was teleported to the coordinate Leshma had just given. The crystal teleportation array on the ground shattered, leaving scorching red spatial burn marks on the ground, so hot that the nearby air distorted.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang barked, meaning the sensing sphere on the other side was fine.
A Law-Destroying Teleportation Array formed beneath Su Xiao's feet. Caution must never be discarded, no matter the time. Don't become blindly arrogant just because you've advanced to Supreme or are even moving towards the "Supreme Peak." He seemed close to the Supreme Peak, but in reality, there was still a considerable distance to go.
Given his luck, even a 99.99% success rate for advancing to "Supreme Peak" could result in his demise. He must be cautious.
The surrounding scene changed. The sky was dim, and the ground was pitch black. He was near the No. 24 Abyss Sprawl Zone. He walked into the Abyss Sprawl Zone, seeing many corpses of dark creatures and criminals along the way. The state of the criminal corpses was particularly gruesome.
Seeing those criminal corpses, which looked like they had melted, leaving only their faces, Su Xiao suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.
Soon, the Abyss Passage appeared ahead. Su Xiao looked at Leshma, whose pupils were dimmer, and the remaining few dozen thugs, whose auras were growing stronger but whose pupils were also beginning to dim.
"Mr. White Night, I've been dreaming of many things lately. Also, do you still want me to continue cleansing the other Abyss Sprawl Zones? If it's you, I allow you to command me."
Leshma's dim pupils actually showed a hint of a different expression. She shyly clasped her hands behind her back, a blush appearing on her cheeks. It felt like she was confessing to someone she had secretly admired for a long time. But Su Xiao immediately caught the key phrase in her words: "I allow."
It seemed this was the trigger for a fatal condition.
"It allows it."
Su Xiao raised his hand holding the "Book of Original Sin." Leshma's girlish demeanor gradually faded, and her pupils returned to their dim state.
Moments later, the black stone barrier of the No. 24 Abyss Sprawl Zone shattered with a bang. The finger-thick Spirit Shadow Threads between Su Xiao's hands dissipated.
"Sir, if you agree, I could borrow this ability of yours to close the Abyss Passage."
A faint, elusive smile appeared on Leshma's face.
"Oh."
Su Xiao wasn't very interested in this. The reason was that Leshma was a more dangerous existence than anticipated. If the initial estimate of her strangeness was 30, it might now be 500, or even over 5000. The upper limit was uncertain.
Everyone makes mistakes. Fully awakening Leshma was one of Su Xiao's mistakes this time. Fortunately, he had an emergency plan for dangerous situations. Otherwise, he wouldn't have awakened her. That emergency plan was, of course, to have Leshma reside in the "Book of Original Sin."
In fact, it was because of this that Leshma didn't reveal her true strangeness to Su Xiao after being fully awakened. She was subtly wary of the "Book of Original Sin."
"I need a medium to temporarily borrow this ability of yours. Of course, if you want to take it back, you can do so at any time and place. I'm just borrowing it temporarily."
As Leshma spoke, a lock of hair fell from her temple. Combined with her pupil-less eyes, it created a... strangely lazy beauty?
"A medium?"
"Yes, any medium will do."
"A contract will also do."
"Of course~, it will."
Hearing this reply, Su Xiao's desire to immediately eliminate this threat vanished.
"I can draft one now?"
"Of course~"
Leshma crooked her finger, signaling a thug with dim pupils to step forward. She commanded:
"Become a chair."
The zombie-like criminal fell to the ground. White bones sprouted from his body's orifices. These bones proliferated and coiled, forming a round bone table and two chairs.
Crack, crack, crack~
A crystal layer spread, enveloping the bone table and chairs before Su Xiao sat down.
He took out some Contract Parchments. Choosing from three, he reluctantly picked one up. The Contract Parchments he exchanged in Reincarnation Paradise weren't standard ones; he exchanged them in bulk because his consumption was high, sometimes using thousands at a time.
Such an exchange had both pros and cons. The downside was that a batch of Contract Parchments would inevitably contain some inferior ones, but they could still be used for branch contracts.
The upside was that it was 20% cheaper than exchanging for "Premium Standard Contract Parchments." Also, exchanging in batches like this had a very low chance of yielding a top-quality, or even top-quality+, "Contract Parchment."
Su Xiao had exchanged many batches of Contract Parchments. Fortunately, they weren't expensive. But even so, with his consumption rate, he had only saved three top-quality+ "Contract Parchments."
Aside from the Contract Parchment, the other contract tools were very conventional. Su Xiao didn't take anyone for a fool. As a Hunter, having a high-quality Contract Parchment was understandable. But if he pulled out a bunch of professional contract-making tools, Leshma might back out on the spot.
Su Xiao began writing the contract. It took over twenty minutes to complete the draft. He let Leshma review it. As Leshma read, her brow slightly furrowed:
"Sir, this contract of yours..."
"What?"
"The format isn't quite right. This part should be replaced with more definitive Void Language to have sufficient contractual force. I suggest revising it."
"..."
Su Xiao frowned, seemingly displeased. He directly crossed out that section with his pen and started rewriting it nearby. This left even the dim-pupiled Leshma a bit speechless.
Half an hour later, a contract full of corrections and revisions was initially drafted. Leshma put down the pen and let out a light breath:
"Sir, you should improve your contract drafting skills. Although it's not commonly used, it shouldn't be this poor."
Leshma looked at the Contract Parchment in her hand, beginning to doubt whether this contract would even take effect.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't say anything. He casually dropped the pen he was holding. In fact, both pens were temporarily constructed by him using Proud Song crystals. Since there was no ink, he used the black blood of Abyss creatures.
As for Leshma's concern about whether the contract would take effect, she needn't worry. Because every correction, every sentence structure, and even every punctuation mark on this contract had its necessary meaning.
A sliver of a cutting edge appeared out of nowhere, cutting Su Xiao's thumb. He directly used his blood to press his thumbprint onto the signature area of the Contract Parchment. Seeing this, Leshma almost facepalmed, but she also used her nail to slightly cut her palm and pressed her thumbprint with her blood.
The result was that after several seconds, the Contract Parchment showed no reaction. Just as Leshma was about to say something, the Contract Parchment took effect, gradually fading away due to the power of the contract.
The contract was concluded. Leshma clenched her hands and pulled. Finger-thick Spirit Shadow Threads appeared between her hands, indicating that she had indeed temporarily borrowed Su Xiao's ability to close the Abyss Passage.
Seeing this, Su Xiao checked his ability list. No abnormalities appeared. "Proud Song · Passive" was available. However, when he tried to construct the specialized Spirit Shadow Threads used to seal the passage within the Abyss, a strand of crimson thread appeared within them just before formation, causing it to fail.
Su Xiao chose to bear this risk. With the contract in hand, he could minimize the risk and maximize the benefits. In fact, if Leshma hadn't mentioned the medium earlier, which led to the contract, he definitely wouldn't have let her temporarily borrow this ability.
Besides, he had a last-resort guarantee in this regard. How about "Luck -150,000"? Leshma was indeed strange, but not so strange that she could break through such a high amount of luck in a few days. Whether positive or negative, it was still luck, wasn't it?
A Law-Destroying Teleportation Array formed beneath Su Xiao's feet. Leshma took a small leap backward.
Boom!
Leshma's hair flew. Even though she had awakened further, she still felt this teleportation array was very dangerous.
Southern Continent, Beast Arena.
Su Xiao had just returned for a short while when Beast Morakchi completed its resurrection. All the "Beast Cores" activated. Moments later, two pitch-black hearts were pulled out of the hollow hexagonal crystal by Spirit Shadow Threads. Very good, the normal Spirit Shadow Threads could still be used.
Since Kaisa had left, only he, Amu, and the temporarily unconscious Demon Clan girl, Mierwei, remained. He had just sat down on the crystal chair when a notification appeared.
[Notification: The Empire Squad under your command has advanced towards the No. 23 Abyss Sprawl Zone and is about to engage in continuous subjugation. The settlement for this subjugation will be delayed.]
As expected, Leshma, awakened to a certain degree, was accelerating the progress.
Opening the terminal handed to him by Bubu Wang, he saw Leshma, who had been in the No. 24 Abyss Sprawl Zone a second ago, appear near the No. 23 Abyss Sprawl Zone, hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, the next second. And not a single thug was missing; they all followed her to the No. 23 zone.
"How long can it last?"
Su Xiao asked about the tracking devices Bubu Wang had set up. They were nanobots that could fuse into the metal parts of clothing and accessories, but they had a decay period.
"Woof."
"Enough."
Su Xiao felt that five days would be enough to handle this matter. In fact, before the Dark Tide arrived, Leshma would abandon her disguise. Perhaps she also wanted to board the ship and go to the "Sea of Life."
Using his authority as the Minister of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department," Su Xiao, after some maneuvering, contacted the Honorary Second Lieutenant stationed at the fortress in the No. 23 Abyss Sprawl Zone. This female officer had a serious personality, but just a few words into the conversation, she suddenly lost her voice. Over a dozen seconds later, she suppressed her inner turmoil and described the collapse of the pitch-black sky wall and the disappearance of the Abyss Passage.
Click~
Su Xiao stopped the countdown on his pocket watch. Total time: 15 minutes and 30 seconds. Leshma had killed all the dark creatures in the No. 23 Abyss Sprawl Zone. As for the Abyss creatures there, they weren't stupid and didn't want to fight to the death with a strange entity like Leshma.
Having nothing to do for the moment, Su Xiao began contacting the Honorary Second Lieutenants of various vanguard fortresses to learn about the "Empire Squad's" situation. From the moment Leshma could close the Abyss Passage, it was clear she was no longer pretending. She intended to slaughter all the dark creatures in every Abyss Sprawl Zone, using their dark blood to reawaken the power she had forgotten.
In the No. 23 Abyss Sprawl Zone, the thugs had begun to become half-human, half-beast, but they were exceptionally ferocious. By the No. 20 Abyss Sprawl Zone, they no longer resembled their former human forms. These thugs deserved no sympathy. The evils they had committed were heinous, which was why Toenta had chosen them.
At the time, Toenta was venting his anger. After the Empire abolished the death penalty, he had always wanted to deal with the thugs in the major maximum-security prisons. In his view, their actions didn't just challenge the bottom line of the Empire's laws; they challenged the very lowest limits of what it meant to be human, no, an intelligent race.
In fact, Toenta needn't have been so angry. After Leshma closed the No. 15 Abyss Passage, all these thugs died instantly. From within their corpses, vicious hunting dogs with oily, pitch-black skin and strangely ferocious appearances crawled out. They became Miss Leshma's dogs.
Originally, Su Xiao's promise was to act as Leshma's anchor, allowing her to let loose for a month before returning to the Leshma he had first met.
But last time, when he helped Leshma transplant the "Blood of Fate," the so-called real Leshma was merely a personality created by a psychic system. During the treatment, it completely collapsed and disappeared. Naturally, the previous promise about the anchor was off the table.
Previously, Su Xiao thought this psychic system was gradually bewitching Leshma, making her a pawn in a scheme. But now it seemed that, perhaps, it appeared that the psychic system was actually sealing Leshma's strangeness. This meant Su Xiao's situation had become: the villain is actually me.
Good news: He was used to being the villain.
Bad news: Leshma was uncontrollable.
Su Xiao picked up the communicator and called the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu. It took a while to connect:
"What is it? I've been very busy lately..."
"Busy cultivating your beloved disciple?"
"Heh, you know it. Spit it out, what's the matter?"
"Do you know Leshma?"
"Oh, that deputy minister of your department. Just ignore her."
Hearing this from the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu, Su Xiao felt a sense of foreboding. The fact that the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu, knew Leshma was the beginning of bad news.
"She's somewhat awakened."
"Awakened? To what extent? Suppressed the psychic personality?"
Hearing this from the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu, Su Xiao discreetly turned down the volume of the communicator and held it further away before saying:
"She's still short of full awakening..." Su Xiao paused, glanced at a photo sent from the fortress in the No. 3 Abyss Sprawl Zone, and changed his words: "Well, she's fully awakened."
"What!!"
The Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu's furious roar came through the communicator. Fortunately, Su Xiao had moved it away in time; otherwise, even through the device, the roar of this powerful Soul System being would have made his eardrums ring.
"You awakened her?"
"Of course not."
"Swear on your personal honor."
Hearing this, Su Xiao was silent for a few seconds before saying: "I swear on the honor of a Law Destroyer..."
"It was you, you bastard!!"
One could imagine that the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu, who had lived for three eras, rarely got this angry. But after a moment, Xirgefu let out a cold laugh:
"You got yourself into this mess. You deal with it."
"Fine."
Hearing Su Xiao agree so readily, the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu's eye twitched. He said in a deep voice:
"You little bastard, if you dare mention my name to her..."
Before the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu could finish, Su Xiao had already agreed: "I'll do my best."
Su Xiao's words undoubtedly meant: I will definitely inform Leshma of all your esteemed names, word for word, and have her recite them repeatedly to quickly recall the 'great kindness' you showed her in the past.
Su Xiao suddenly understood why the old king had unconditionally given him the position of Minister of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department." It wasn't just to do him a favor; it was also because the deputy minister of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" was Leshma.
He had originally thought Leshma was an extradimensional strange entity that had wandered here by accident. But seeing the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu's reaction, it was clearly not the case. These three old immortals were old acquaintances of Leshma. It was very possible that it wasn't three who stepped into the trap of the Second Era: Alchemy Civilization, but four.
At a critical moment, these three "Supreme Peaks" and super old schemers had sold out Leshma, causing her to bear the even more brutal sealing suppression of the "Causal Lock Ring." It took over two thousand years for her to recover her former strangeness and power.
Su Xiao's plan just now was to banish Leshma using the contract as a medium after she closed the No. 1 Abyss Passage. But now, it seemed he really couldn't do that, because the fully awakened Leshma might be a temporary ally.
First of all, Leshma had definitely also endured the confinement of the "Causal Lock Ring." Her current goal was undoubtedly to devour a large number of dark creatures to restore her former power. Even if she couldn't recover her former strength within this world, she would at least restore herself to the world's combat power ceiling, then board the ship and go to the "Sea of Life."
A strange entity of Leshma's level wouldn't leave the matter of escaping entirely to others.
This also meant that if the group successfully destroyed the "Causal Lock Ring," Leshma would immediately turn her spearhead against the three giants of this world who had once schemed against her: the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu; the Leader of the Gods, Primordial Origin, Harrota; and the Ancient Clan Chief, Hatu. This was undoubtedly the situation Su Xiao wanted to see.
Had Leshma been acting all along before? No. At that time, Leshma was in a state of missing memories and power. As she savored the pain of others, she first recovered her ancient memories, and then her former power followed.
On the terminal, the coordinate representing Leshma changed again, appearing near the No. 0 Abyss Sprawl Zone in the Southern Continent. This dark continent was the lair of the Ancient Clan Chief, Hatu. Coming to close the No. 0 Abyss Sprawl Zone was undoubtedly a provocation to him.
Half an hour later, the massive black clouds slowly rotating in the sky stopped and dissipated. This meant the source of dark power here had been cut off, meaning Leshma had closed the No. 0 Abyss Passage.
In response, the Ancient Clan Chief, Hatu, didn't even show his face. It wasn't that he feared Leshma, but that over two thousand years ago, his level of scheming against Leshma was second only to the Clock Tower Master, Xirgefu. Now that Leshma hadn't come directly to his doorstep for a life-or-death showdown, it was because of the existence of the "Causal Lock Ring," making an immediate falling out inadvisable.
[Notification: The 'Empire Squad' under your command has successfully closed all Abyss Passages in this world.]
[Subjugation settlement for the 'Empire Squad' in progress...]
[Settlement complete. 10% has been deducted. The remainder is your income from this operation.]
[You have obtained 2,785,230 Precipitated Glass.]
[You have obtained Abyss Shop Refresh Count ×62 (This refresh count can be stored).]
...
[Detected that your 'Bounty 1: Abyssal Shadow' and 'Bounty 2: Star Core' have both been completed. Submit bounties simultaneously?]
[Submitting 'Abyssal Shadow/Star Core' bounties simultaneously.]
[Due to the multiple bounty + bounty correction of the 'Hunt List: Blood Pact,' you will receive a total bounty worth 70,000 ounces of Space-Time Power.]
[You have obtained Space-Time Stone Fragments ×1500 (This is an equivalent item that can be sold to Reincarnation Paradise at any time for 15,000 ounces of Space-Time Power).]
[You have obtained the Hand of Deceit (Unique Trait, Abyss Curio. This item is valued at the equivalent of 55,000 ounces of Space-Time Power in this judgment).]
...
[Hand of Deceit]
Origin: Abyss.
Category: Long leather glove covered in grime.
Note: This is the exclusive category for this item.
Quality: -- (Due to the highly special nature of this item, it is beyond the scope of free notarization. Payment of Space-Time Power is required for relevant notarization.)
Effect: Can perform 'Deceptive Mimicry.'
Warning: Due to your extremely low compatibility with this equipment, you cannot equip or activate it.
Rating: --
Description: Mimicry to the extreme can pass off the fake as the real.
...
Seeing this item, Su Xiao opened the friend list in his Reincarnation Brand, found Kaisa, and sent it over. The content below was simple: 'Name your price.'
Just three seconds later, Kaisa didn't reply but appeared directly in front of Su Xiao, his gaze burning hotly at the long, brown leather glove covered in grime that wouldn't wash off in Su Xiao's hand.
The greed and desire in Kaisa's eyes were undisguised. But thinking of the price he would have to pay, his face twisted in a painful expression. Finally, he gritted his teeth and made an offer:
"100,000 ounces of Space-Time Power!"
PS: (Tomorrow is Sunday, a day off. Please forgive me, esteemed readers.)