All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 134: The Fifteenth Floor

The moment Zhanyue entered the thirteenth floor, he realized something was off. It was supposed to be just one floor of the tower, yet before him stretched an endless expanse. Did this tower contain its own space? What was the origin of the Boundless Tower?

In the sky, a portal opened, and a giant eagle with two heads flew out. The eagle was majestic and imposing, its four eyes from two heads staring sharply at Zhanyue.

“An enemy flying in the sky? Normally, only those in the Spirit God Realm can fly. To arrange a flying enemy for a test below the Profound Realm, and this is only the thirteenth floor? Is it this difficult already?” Zhanyue couldn’t help but frown.

The giant eagle didn’t care about Zhanyue’s confusion. Its left head opened its mouth, and a terrifying wind force pulled Zhanyue towards the eagle, making it impossible for him to break free. Then the right head also opened its mouth, spitting out a bolt of lightning.

The wind vortex restricted movement while the lightning struck the enemy – the two heads worked in perfect coordination.

However, the lightning merely grazed Zhanyue, missing completely. Even though pulled by the wind force, the Phantom Step was still activated, confusing the giant eagle’s vision. Enraged, the eagle fired a barrage of lightning bolts.

Zhanyue no longer remained passive. The demon sword flew out, and Zhanyue, gripping it, was pulled out of the wind vortex. He then stood on the sword and flew towards the eagle. This monster would indeed be troublesome for those who couldn’t fly, forced to passively endure attacks on the ground. But for Zhanyue, there were ways to counter.

Seeing Zhanyue take flight, the eagle was clearly surprised. It continued to fire lightning bolts, which Zhanyue deftly dodged. Compared to when he first started sword flying, Zhanyue was now quite proficient. As Zhanyue closed the distance, the eagle immediately flew far away.

However, the speed of sword flight far surpassed the eagle’s flying speed. Zhanyue quickly caught up and leapt onto the eagle’s back.

The eagle panicked and immediately flipped over in the air. Zhanyue grabbed its feathers to avoid falling, but the feathers couldn’t withstand the pull. Zhanyue fell, clutching a large feather, but quickly stabilized himself by standing on his flying sword.

Angered by Zhanyue’s grabbing, the eagle no longer tried to escape. It turned to attack Zhanyue, its feathers like blades, shooting towards him in a storm.

“You beast, you’ve got some temper.” Zhanyue nimbly dodged all attacks, though his offensive options were limited with the sword under his feet. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and a wicked smile appeared on his lips. A handful of pills appeared in Zhanyue’s hand, all fifth-grade Fierce Profound Pills. Once again, Zhanyue flew onto the eagle’s back and was thrown off again. This time, however, he allowed himself to free fall, having planted many pills among the eagle’s feathers.

A series of explosions rang out, filling the air with a bloody mist. The giant eagle fell from the sky like a crashing plane. Even with its physical strength, it couldn’t withstand such terrifying explosive impacts.

After landing, Zhanyue found that the giant eagle was already dead, not even needing a finishing blow.

“Tsk, tsk, that girl Baizhi’s pills are so potent, ordinary Profound Beings couldn’t withstand them at all. I should have her make more of these. Aren’t they more effective than flying swords?” Zhanyue critiqued. The demon sword in his hand hummed indignantly.

“Alright, alright, thanks to you too. How else could I have flown up to engage with it?” Zhanyue placated. Then, an ethereal staircase appeared out of thin air, and Zhanyue ascended it to the fourteenth floor.

The world of the fourteenth floor was a vast ocean. As soon as Zhanyue entered, the terrifying water pressure almost overwhelmed him.

“What the hell? Just went to the sky, and now I’m under the sea? This is too much!” Zhanyue circulated his technique, pushing away the surrounding seawater. There was no light in the sea; Zhanyue relied entirely on his spiritual energy to sense his surroundings.

Soon, a dark shadow rushed towards him from afar. Zhanyue barely dodged, but his arm was still cut. Thankfully, under state reversal, this small injury was instantly healed. Maintaining the ability to push away the surrounding seawater was already taxing, and having to guard against the unknown creature’s sneak attacks was truly difficult.

“This test won’t result in death. I suppose the trial will end if it’s determined I’ve received a fatal wound. Even with my state reversal ability, if I’m judged to be severely injured, the test might end directly. So I can’t sustain too heavy injuries,” Zhanyue analyzed. He could trade injuries, but it wasn’t suitable in this tower. He feared the test would end immediately, not giving him a chance to reverse.

Once again, the mysterious creature came flying at a terrifying speed. This time Zhanyue was prepared. He let out a fierce shout. The Soul-Shaking Roar came into play again. The mysterious monster, affected by the soul attack, suddenly slowed down. Zhanyue sensed its position and thrust his sword, hitting it squarely.

Feeling the seawater recede, Zhanyue knew he had passed the fourteenth level. On the surface, this fourteenth level seemed much quicker than the thirteenth, but Zhanyue knew the danger within. He had many ways to deal with the giant eagle, but facing this mysterious creature, if he hadn’t mastered the Soul-Shaking Roar as a soul attack method, he wouldn’t have been able to catch it at all and might have been worn down by sneak attacks. Even after passing the level, Zhanyue didn’t know what that thing was, not even able to capture its image with the light of the Illumination Stone.

“The fifteenth floor already?” The people waiting outside were dumbfounded. Zhanyue had spent a long time on the thirteenth floor, how did he pass through the fourteenth so quickly?

“Fifteen floors! Isn’t this the princess’s record? Who exactly is this person? Is he a spirit contractor? If he passes the fifteenth floor, he’ll match the princess’s record!” Everyone was shocked and expectant.

Mi Hongchen, however, frowned. “That kid is this capable? What has he encountered in these years?” She recalled the scene when she first met Zhanyue, when he was as weak as an ant.

“The fifteenth floor already, how interesting.” Gong Xiaoyu sipped her tea, thinking that this trip to the academy wasn’t in vain after all. At this moment, she also thought of Zhanyue. He hadn’t entered the Profound Realm either, right? She wondered how many floors he could climb if he entered this Boundless Tower.

The fifteenth floor was a vast, empty plain.

Zhanyue’s eyes widened as he saw his opponent. “Pr-Princess?” Opposite him stood a stunningly beautiful woman in armor, with a terrifying red flying dragon behind her.

But Zhanyue quickly realized this wasn’t a living being, more like a projection. The Mi Hongchen before him appeared younger, and the red flying dragon was much smaller than the one Zhanyue had seen.

“Is this… her appearance when she challenged the tower back then? This fifteenth floor is actually a projection of Mi Hongchen’s past self.” Zhanyue furrowed his brow, knowing the difficulty of this fifteenth floor was likely extraordinary.

The projection showed no emotion. Holding a long spear, it charged towards him, the flying dragon beside it providing support. The human and dragon coordinated perfectly.

“If it were the current princess, I’d be no match at all. But unfortunately for you, you haven’t entered the Profound Realm either. Princess, please forgive my offense.” Zhanyue smiled, though he knew the thing before him was just a projection.

As the flying sword clashed with the long spear, Zhanyue felt a terrifying force transmitted. As the Female War God of the Eastern Kingdom, she had always overwhelmed her peers from childhood. Now Zhanyue was facing this war goddess in her youthful form, at least before her impressive chest had fully developed.