All Things Are Contracts

The Mountain Goblin’s lair was extremely large. Zhanyue felt he was carried for a long time. Just as he was lost in thought, a feeling of palpitation came over him, exactly like when he first saw the Goddess statue. But as the two monsters carried him further away, this feeling quickly weakened.

“A contract object? There’s one of my contract objects in this Mountain Goblin’s lair?” Zhanyue was extremely excited. This was truly a fateful encounter that couldn’t be stopped.

“Don’t you already have two contract objects? And you sensed another one in the ancient castle. How can you still sense more contract objects?” The illumination Goddess had seen contractors with two contract objects before, but she had never seen anyone with three. Legend had it that such beings existed in ancient times, but she had never heard of someone like Zhanyue who might have four contract objects. Legend said three was the limit for contracts, but obviously Zhanyue had broken this limit.

When Zhanyue first arrived in this world, nine divine marks each went their separate ways. Zhanyue had no idea where they had flown to. Perhaps these nine divine marks corresponded to nine different contract objects?

“We’ve finally arrived. Lock him in your room first. We’ll present him as a birthday gift to the Great King later,” a voice said. By now, Zhanyue’s hands and feet were tied, and his mouth was gagged. He was then thrown under the bed in a small room. Zhanyue was seething with anger, “You two pigs, just you wait.”

——————

The Mountain Goblin’s lair wasn’t built by the Mountain Goblins. It was originally an underground palace that was discovered and occupied by them. It was very well hidden, undiscovered by humans for thousands of years. Now, the vast underground palace was bustling with activity. Mountain Goblin Clansmen who looked very similar to Dingding and Dangdang were decorating the palace, especially the central hall which was particularly bright. Flower pots were placed all around the hall. The pots contained flowers emitting various colors of light, with the white-light flowers being the brightest. These were the main light sources in the underground world.

A huge white light stone was tied to the top of the hall, like a spotlight above a stage, illuminating a giant stone chair below and naturally becoming the center of the hall.

“Please welcome our most wise and mighty Great King to be seated!” a high-pitched voice rang out.

Then a chubby figure walked over. He was much larger than the other Mountain Goblins, with the same yellowish-brown skin, a round face with big eyes, a protruding long nose, and pointed ears. He was wrapped in golden animal skins from top to bottom, wearing a golden crown on his head, and playing with a white pearl about the size of an apple in his hand.

“Who prepared this?” the Mountain Goblin King Hulu pointed at the bright white light stone above his head.

“It was me,” a short and thin Mountain Goblin stepped forward with a fawning smile.

Hulu slapped him flying with one hand, angrily saying, “MLGBZ, it’s hurting my eyes. Why can’t any of you be a bit smarter?”

“Oh no, the Great King doesn’t seem to be in a good mood today,” the crowd whispered, even though it was the Great King’s birthday.

“Birthday, birthday, each one means one less year. My cultivation hasn’t improved at all, what’s there to celebrate!” Hulu said angrily. A birthday only meant he was one year older.

Everyone fell silent, the atmosphere becoming terrifyingly quiet. Suddenly, the cry of a baby broke the silence.

“Bring me the baby,” Hulu commanded.

A female Mountain Goblin then handed the baby in her arms to Hulu. She was very tall, but certainly not by human aesthetic standards. However, the other Mountain Goblins looked at her enviously. She was the beauty of the Mountain Goblin Clan, the Great King’s queen.

“My little ancestor, what’s wrong again?” Hulu cooed, cradling the baby. This was his hard-won offspring. After personally soothing the child, he said to everyone, “Let’s begin. I know you all, you just want to take advantage of my birthday to have a good meal. You’re all more excited than I am.”

After Hulu finished speaking, the Mountain Goblins sat in their places one by one. Plates of roasted meat and wild fruits were served, along with jars of fine wine. The portions were several times larger than usual. The Great King’s birthday was when they ate the best, almost wishing the Great King could have a birthday every day.

“Congratulations on your birthday, Great King. This is a spirit plant I found, especially as a gift for you,” a Mountain Goblin stood up, opening a wooden box. Instantly, a fragrant aroma spread, and inside lay a purple flower.

“Calming Fragrance? Bring it here,” Hulu’s eyes lit up.

The Mountain Goblin brought the box over. Hulu took out the flower and placed it on the baby in his arms. The baby soon fell into a deep sleep. “With this, this little ancestor can be quieter at night. You’ve done well, you’re rewarded with one Earth Spirit Fruit.”

Everyone looked envious upon hearing this. Earth Spirit Fruit could enhance the cultivation and improve the physique of the Mountain Goblin Clan. Everyone craved it.

“Great King, how do you like my gift?” Another Mountain Goblin stood up, taking out a whitish iron block from his bosom.

“Earth Fire Iron Essence? Not bad, not bad. It can enhance the toughness of my weapons. Reward granted!” Hulu was very satisfied with this gift.

“Great King, Great King, how about mine?” Another Mountain Goblin excitedly presented his gift, an exquisite jade wine cup.

“Is this a human artifact? Did you steal it from a human town? How dare you! Didn’t you listen to what I said?” Hulu looked at the wine cup and scolded angrily.

“No… no, I dug this up in the mountains. There was a pile of rotten wood next to the wine cup,” the Mountain Goblin explained. This explanation made things worse; Hulu almost fainted with anger.

“You went grave robbing? Giving me things from dead people to use? Damn it. Ah, forget it. With your intelligence, how could you not do something stupid? Just stay after the banquet tonight to clean up.” Hulu said exasperatedly.

The gifts after this person became worse and worse, even including some colorful mushrooms, making Hulu sigh deeply. As the King of the Mountain Goblins, his wisdom was far beyond what other Mountain Goblins could compare to, standing out like a crane among chickens.

Finally, it was Dingding and Dangdang’s turn. The two of them carried over a burlap sack together.

“Great King, we two offer a grand gift,” they said excitedly as they unveiled the burlap sack. Zhanyue crawled out of the sack, his hands and feet tied with hemp rope. Seeing all the Mountain Goblins staring at him dumbfounded, some dropped the meat legs in their hands, some forgot to stop pouring when their cups were full.

The Mountain Goblin King slammed the table violently, his eyes filled with fury, “Are you two seeking death? Why did you bring a human in here? We don’t eat humans, you’re really driving me crazy! How dare you violate the ancestral teachings. Come, throw these two idiots into the pond to feed the fish!”

Dingding and Dangdang hurriedly knelt down and explained, “Great King, please calm your anger. This person is not ordinary, he can read… he can read the words on the tablet.”

“What words on what tablet?” the Mountain Goblin King asked puzzled.

“This wooden tablet…” the two took out the wooden tablet, “Didn’t the Great King say you were looking for someone who could read these words?”

The Mountain Goblin King saw the wooden tablet and became even more confused, “How did you know about this?”

“Uh… Great King once talked in your sleep when drunk, cursing that the ancestors were no good, forbidding Mountain Goblins from contacting humans yet asking Mountain Goblins to find people who could read ancient text. It’s completely contradictory and unreasonable,” Dangdang said honestly.

The Mountain Goblin King’s face turned red. His words cursing the ancestors had been overheard. These two fools were truly beyond help. How could they say such things in public?

Meanwhile, Zhanyue was observing his surroundings. This place didn’t look like an ordinary cave. The walls were neat, the space was spacious, stone pillars supported the entire space. Judging by the craftsmanship, it seemed more like human work. This place was more like an underground palace.

“Boy, I hear you can read this kind of writing?” The Mountain Goblin King brought two wooden tablets in front of Zhanyue’s eyes. “What’s written on these two wooden tablets? If you don’t answer correctly, I can only apologize.”

“Although this Mountain Goblin King hasn’t reached the Spirit God Realm, I feel he’s even more powerful than the Sun City Lord. Be careful, try not to cause conflict,” the illumination Goddess warned.

“More powerful than the City Lord?!” Zhanyue was shocked. Looking at this unremarkable Mountain Goblin King, he was only slightly larger than Dingding and Dangdang. Could he really be that powerful?

“In reply to the Great King, one of these wooden tablets says ‘roasted meat’, and the other says ‘small fire’,” Zhanyue answered truthfully. The more he proved his value now, the better his situation would be.

The Mountain Goblin King stood up excitedly, handing the baby in his arms to a woman nearby. He walked up to Zhanyue and looked him over carefully, “Just a weak one at the Spirit Contract Realm, yet knows so much. Could you be guessing?”

“The Great King jests. How could this be guessed? I just have some impression, but I don’t guarantee I know all such writing,” Zhanyue replied.

Seeing Zhanyue so calm, the Mountain Goblin King gave a thumbs up, “You’re not afraid at all. What good courage. If it were an ordinary human, they’d probably be scared witless by now.” Then, the Mountain Goblin King produced a page of paper out of thin air. He actually had a storage treasure too.

“What’s written on this paper?” the Great King asked. Actually, he didn’t recognize these characters either, but he knew roughly what the paper was about.

Zhanyue quickly discovered that the characters on the wooden tablets came from this paper. Reading these characters with difficulty, along with his own guesses, Zhanyue roughly understood what this was.

“In reply to the Great King, this paper records a recipe, a method for roasting meat,” Zhanyue answered.

Hearing this, the Mountain Goblin King’s whole body trembled with excitement, “Quick, quick, untie this gentleman. Damn it, how could we treat the gentleman like this? Never mind, I’ll do it myself.”

The Mountain Goblin King personally untied Zhanyue’s bonds. Zhanyue himself hadn’t expected that what he learned in his doctoral studies would be useful here. It was truly bizarre.

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