All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 141: The Last Tranquility (3)

The forest path was a side route leading to Tianhe Garden. Not many students passed through here, and it was even more deserted at high noon.

Yu Xuanyi walked along this forest path, enjoying the sunlight filtering through the leaves and swaying in the gentle breeze. He now looked exactly like Zhanyue. As long as he could enter Tianhe Garden Villa in this guise and get close to the Holy Maiden, even if his identity was discovered, he was confident he could quickly abduct her.

The wind stopped, and the trees grew still. Yu Xuanyi frowned as a murderous aura filled the surroundings.

“Who’s there?!”

From both ends of the forest path, two black-clad figures emerged. Both were at the seventh stage of the Moon Profound Realm. They each held a grey flag, which they planted into the ground. Yu Xuanyi felt the world spin, and in an instant, he seemed to be in a new space. But with his extensive knowledge, he knew this wasn’t spatial transfer but an illusion formation.

“Mere tricks. You think this petty illusion can trap me?” Yu Xuanyi was confused. Had he been exposed? He hadn’t even seen the Holy Maiden yet.

“Die!” The two assassins didn’t waste words. Since they were here to take ‘Zhanyue’s’ life, they had to act quickly, especially within the academy.

One was a ‘Thread’ contractor, the other a ‘Quicksand’ contractor. Both were excellent assassins with perfect coordination. The sandstorm obscured countless threads hidden within, capable of slicing Yu Xuanyi into pieces.

Yu Xuanyi closed his eyes tightly to avoid being blinded by the sand. His Green Edge sword emerged, its invincible sword energy slashing through the net before him.

The Quicksand contractor clasped his hands together. “Quicksand Hell!”

The ground beneath Yu Xuanyi’s feet suddenly turned to sand, his legs sinking in, unable to break free.

“Chaotic Sky-Earth Net!” The other assassin also unleashed his killing move. Countless razor-sharp threads wove into a net, descending upon Yu Xuanyi from above.

Faced with this deadly situation, Yu Xuanyi remained calm. The Quicksand Hell’s effect was extremely strong; even he couldn’t break free immediately. But no matter how powerful a technique, it would fail if its user died!

“Green Edge Sword! Three Feet of Flowing Clouds!” Yu Xuanyi’s aura suddenly surged. The flying sword shot out, aiming for the Quicksand contractor’s head.

“Sand Barrier!” The Quicksand contractor condensed sand into a shield before him. However, Green Edge cut through the barrier as easily as a knife through tofu. A flash of green light, and a head flew. The seventh-stage Moon Profound Realm Quicksand contractor was instantly beheaded, not even having time to turn his body into sand.

“This is wrong. He’s definitely not first-stage Star Profound Realm! His aura… his aura is ninth-stage Moon Profound Realm?” The Thread contractor’s eyes widened as he sensed Yu Xuanyi’s true power.

“Constrict!” The Thread contractor hadn’t given up on his mission. The net suddenly tightened.

The Quicksand Hell dissipated, but the Sky-Earth Net had already fallen. A long saber appeared in Yu Xuanyi’s hand.

Like a sharp knife cutting through tangled hemp, Yu Xuanyi cleanly sliced through the net above his head.

“Insignificant fool, die!” With a flash of the Golden Chime Saber, a terrifying saber energy cut the Thread contractor in half from over ten meters away, along with the formation flag behind him.

Yu Xuanyi was actually at the seventh stage of the Moon Profound Realm, and a peerless genius with both sword and saber contract objects. This was his true strength. He easily slaughtered two powerful seventh-stage Moon Profound Realm assassins. With the formation flag destroyed, the illusion disappeared, and he reappeared on the forest path, now with a corpse at each end.

As Yu Xuanyi was considering how to dispose of the two bodies, he felt an itch on his face. His fingertips were stained with faint traces of blood.

“Hm?” Yu Xuanyi hadn’t expected to be wounded by the Thread contractor’s net, even if it was just a barely visible small cut on his face. To him, this was a great humiliation.

Suddenly, a thunderbolt-like sensation struck his heart. Yu Xuanyi’s eyes widened. “Not good, the thread was poisoned!”

He took out an all-purpose antidote pill and quickly swallowed it, but the poison became even more violent, invading his heart. Yu Xuanyi coughed up blood, his expression gloomy and face pale. “What kind of poison is this? How can it be so powerful? This is bad. If this continues, I’ll die here!”

Yu Xuanyi no longer cared about the Holy Maiden; his life was at stake. He took out a talisman and activated it painfully. A white light flashed, enveloping him and pulling him into a spatial tunnel, directly sending him back to the Azure Wind Realm. Such cross-realm spatial transfer talismans were extremely rare; Yu Xuanyi only had this one. He had planned to use it to take the Holy Maiden away after getting close to her. He never expected to encounter such a terrifying poison before even seeing the Holy Maiden, forcing him to use it to escape.

Zhanyue was unaware that a great crisis meant for him had been taken on by Yu Xuanyi. Soon after, the two corpses were discovered by others, and the atmosphere in the academy immediately became tense. When you’re enjoying peaceful times, someone is always bearing the burden for you. If Zhanyue knew, he would surely appreciate Yu Xuanyi’s self-sacrificing spirit, but unfortunately, he knew nothing. At this moment, he was treating his old friend to a meal at a restaurant.

“I can’t believe it’s really you,” Cheng Lu said happily, raising his wine cup.

“Congratulations on your promotion to general, Brother Cheng,” Zhanyue congratulated.

“It’s nothing, really. But you, quietly reaching the Star Profound Realm, it’s truly humbling. I owe it all to you. When you sent that little girl, I introduced her to the princess. It was counted as a great merit. The princess later promoted me exceptionally and transferred me from Sun City to the Academy Town . The work is more relaxed, but the salary tripled,” Cheng Lu said with a smile. He was genuinely grateful to Zhanyue. His life’s pressures had greatly reduced, though with his talent, this was probably his limit. He didn’t have much ambition beyond this.

“By the way, how is your family?” Zhanyue asked.

“Still the same. With more money, I hired better doctors, but the effect wasn’t significant. I can’t afford alchemists. The doctor said that maybe fifth or sixth-grade pills could cure that illness,” Cheng Lu said, looking downcast when mentioning this.

“How about this, Brother Cheng? Next time, bring your family to the Academy Town , and I’ll take a look. I’m now an alchemist too,” Zhanyue said. Although he was only a fourth-grade alchemist, he could first examine the situation and then relay the information to Baizhi for her analysis. Or he could ask Baizhi to seek help from the Thousand Charms Empress. There might be a solution.

“Re-really? You’re an alchemist too?” Cheng Lu looked shocked. This little brother of his was too amazing. What had he experienced in these years?

They chatted for a long time, parting only when the sun set. Zhanyue walked alone towards the academy gates. Before the gates, he was stopped by a familiar figure.

“Young man, it’s me!” The speaker was a shabbily dressed old man.

Zhanyue looked closely and recognized him as the old man who had asked for sponsorship before. He had given him quite a sum of money.

“What? Run out of money?” Zhanyue said helplessly. The old man must have been waiting here specifically for him, or for other “big fish”.

The old man smiled awkwardly, “For researchers, there’s never enough money.”

“So, what about the research results?” Zhanyue asked.

“Well… about that, I was halfway through when I realized the topic wasn’t interesting. I found another topic,” the old man said.

“Not interesting? I remember you said before that you were researching why Nightmares fear sunlight, right? Even that topic wasn’t interesting? What are you trying to research now?” Zhanyue said, exasperated.

“Hehe, this time I’m researching ancient active power armor,” the old man said mysteriously.