All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 136: Familiar Faces

On the sixteenth floor, divine swords clashed, the sound of metal ringing pleasantly. The two Heaven Punishing Demon Swords fought evenly.

Zhanyue’s wrist was starting to ache, and for a moment, he couldn’t find any way to deal with that demon sword. None of his techniques had any effect on it – fire burning was ineffective, soul attacks were useless, and Fierce Profound Pills were like tickles.

“Go!” Zhanyue released the demon sword from his hand, controlling it like a flying sword to entangle with the other demon sword, while he racked his brains for a solution.

However, to Zhanyue’s surprise, the usually lazy Heaven Punishing Demon Sword was very excited today. Its originally silver-white blade was now coated with a layer of crimson. Zhanyue released control, and the demon sword automatically engaged its opponent, seemingly to the death.

The sound of clashing metal was incessant. The two demon swords battled in the sky, their power rippling, even causing spatial distortions. Zhanyue’s eyes widened. The demon sword had never shown such power in his hands before, but today it seemed to be going all out. Had the counterfeit demon sword angered it?

“So strong, such an amazing sword,” Zhanyue truly witnessed the terrifying nature of the Heaven Punishing Demon Sword for the first time. He probably wasn’t even a match for it as its master.

In the end, the counterfeit couldn’t beat the original. With a crisp sound, the fake demon sword was cut in two. The broken blade pieces surrounded the Heaven Punishing Demon Sword’s body, and Zhanyue realized it was absorbing the broken sword.

After a long time, the Heaven Punishing Demon Sword let out a sword cry and fell from the sky, landing in front of Zhanyue.

“Finished absorbing?” Zhanyue carefully drew the sword. The current Heaven Punishing Demon Sword was incredibly sharp, exuding dominance, as if a dull blade had been enlightened.

“Good sword, good sword!” Zhanyue exclaimed, admiring the Heaven Punishing Demon Sword before him. Unfortunately, this sword still seemed to look down on him, unwilling to exert its full power. Though he was its master, it still seemed somewhat unconvinced.

The sixteenth floor was passed easily thanks to the Heaven Punishing Demon Sword’s power, so he continued to the seventeenth floor.

The enemy on the seventeenth floor was familiar to Zhanyue – it was the black bear he had encountered in the Ghost Island Secret Realm. His “Soul-Shaking Roar” technique came from one of its kind.

“Roar!” The terrifying bear roar shook Zhanyue’s spirit. This attack was far more powerful than the previous black bear’s. Even with his current soul strength, he almost had his soul scattered.

Could the “Soul-Shaking Roar” be this powerful? Zhanyue now realized how terrifying this divine ability was.

……

A day and a night later, Zhanyue finally walked out of the Boundless Tower. He stopped at the nineteenth floor, having cleared eighteen floors, surpassing Mi Hongchen’s record by three full floors. Recalling his experiences on the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth floors, Zhanyue had some guesses. The trials from the sixteenth floor onwards seemed more like specialized training for him. The sixteenth floor helped awaken his Heaven Punishing Demon Sword, the seventeenth floor gave him a deeper understanding of the “Soul-Shaking Roar,” and the eighteenth floor’s enemy was a powerful mountain demon, with which Zhanyue grappled above and below ground, ultimately refining his earth escape technique to a new level. Now his earth escape duration and speed were no worse than an average mountain demon’s. As for the nineteenth floor, it featured two terrifying fire beasts. He couldn’t last three breaths before them, and he suspected he’d only be able to pass it once he fully mastered the Sun Prime Fire and Earth Vein Ghost Fire. The difficulty of the nineteenth floor was a complete step up from the eighteenth, and Zhanyue knew that with his current abilities, he could only reach the eighteenth floor. He just didn’t know if in the future, when he advanced to the Profound Realm and challenged the tower again, whether he would start from the nineteenth floor.

Walking out of the Boundless Tower, the scene of being surrounded by crowds that Zhanyue most feared didn’t materialize. The Academy Town ‘s soldiers had already dispersed the surrounding crowd, naturally on Mi Hongchen’s orders.

The first person Zhanyue saw upon exiting was Director Wu’s familiar face, and beside her stood a valiant and beautiful woman.

“Princess?” Zhanyue was a bit surprised.

“Long time no see, Zhanyue,” Mi Hongchen said with a slight smile, curiously appraising Zhanyue. “Seventh stage of Soul Control Realm, eighteenth floor, you’ve truly opened my eyes.”

Zhanyue didn’t know what to say for a moment. “Just some lucky encounters.”

“Alright, Director Wu, process his paperwork through the special channel. Starting tomorrow, he’ll be promoted to a Profound Realm student. As for his lodging, arrange it in Tianhe Garden’s Second Villa,” Mi Hongchen said.

“Tianhe Garden’s Second Villa? But that’s… is that appropriate?” Director Wu asked in confusion. Tianhe Garden was Mi Hongchen’s residence in the academy, with two villas besides the main house. The First Villa housed the Holy Maiden Lixi and Nangong Weilai, and now the Second Villa was given to Zhanyue.

“There’s nothing inappropriate about it. It’s been empty, and he qualifies for it,” Mi Hongchen said. “Go handle his paperwork. I’ll take him with me first.”

Mi Hongchen whistled, and the red dragon descended from the sky, landing before her.

“Come, I’ll take you to meet some old acquaintances,” Mi Hongchen smiled.

Standing on the dragon’s back for the third time brought a different feeling. Looking at the Academy Town buildings below, Zhanyue was filled with emotion. He really came to the right place this time. On his first day of enrollment, his strength had already increased dramatically.

After Zhanyue left, the soldiers responsible for the blockade dispersed, and people gathered at the base of the Boundless Tower.

“Who was it? Who has such ability?”

“Is the princess trying to suppress the news? But that light pillar was visible to the entire Academy Town , it can’t be hidden. As for who it was, it’s not hard to guess. We’ll know when we see which non-Profound Realm student takes the Profound Realm test later,” someone said, puzzled.

“You dare question the princess’s decision? She naturally has her considerations.”

On the dragon’s back, Mi Hongchen spoke seriously: “A outstanding tree invites the wind’s destruction. You’ve now shaken the Academy Town , and soon the whole world will know about you. Many people know about your situation, it can’t withstand investigation. Your identity probably can’t be kept secret, so be careful in the future.”

Zhanyue nodded. He had always kept a low profile, but this time he suddenly became too high-profile. “Is Your Highness saying someone might harm me?”

“The Night Lord certainly doesn’t want our Eastern Kingdom to benefit, and the Nighmares don’t want another human prodigy to rise. As for within the human race, jealousy itself is the greatest killing intent. In your future interactions, you need to be more cautious and never trust people lightly,” Mi Hongchen advised earnestly, speaking from experience. A genius growing up is still just a genius, and there were countless people who could kill Zhanyue. However, Zhanyue didn’t care at all, after all, he had the strongest bodyguard protecting him.

“Ah, you little rascal, looks like I can’t leave for a while,” the Illumination Goddess sighed in the shadows. Protecting Zhanyue was clearly more important than her investigation. When Zhanyue acted low-key before, the troubles he encountered were manageable. Now that he’s so high-profile, he might truly attract the attention of some formidable figures, and the troubles he faces won’t be comparable to before.

The red dragon landed at Tianhe Garden’s First Villa. Seeing Mi Hongchen return, several beautiful women came out.

“Sister MuMu Lixi, guess who’s here?” Mi Hongchen smiled. She knew about Zhanyue and the Holy Maiden’s relationship.

The women looked at Zhanyue jumping down from the dragon’s back and said in unison: “How is it you?”

Then they looked at each other and asked in unison: “You know him?”

Mi Hongchen looked at this scene with a black line over her head. It was understandable that Holy Maiden Lixi knew Zhanyue, but how did Gong Xiaoyu, the powerful minister from the Thousand Charms Empire, and Nangong Weilai, the little princess from the Moon Reflection Pavilion, also know Zhanyue? This guy was really something.