All Things Are Contracts

Gong Xiaoyun’s cloud-riding technique truly opened Zhanyue’s eyes. As a Spirit Contractor with water vapor as her contract object, even though she hadn’t advanced to the Spirit God Realm yet, even Spirit God Realm experts wouldn’t fare well against her. As the Empress’s confidant, Gong Xiaoyun’s strength, wisdom, and methods were all top-tier.

The three of them quickly returned to the imperial capital, Myriad Purple City. Viewing the city from above in daylight offered a unique perspective. Zhanyue now noticed two enormous statues in Myriad Purple City. He recognized one as the illumination Goddess statue found everywhere, though he inwardly criticized that the statue’s appearance didn’t do justice to his “sister’s” beauty, not even one ten-thousandth of it. The other colossal statue was also of a woman, wearing imperial robes, with a noble air, her gaze fixed intently on the distant landscape.

“Miss Gong, who is that statue of?” Zhanyue asked curiously.

“It’s the statue of our Thousand Charms Empire’s founding emperor,” Gong Xiaoyun answered.

“The founding empress, truly a remarkable woman,” Zhanyue praised. Beside him, Baizhi stared at the statue, feeling a strange sense of familiarity she couldn’t quite grasp.

“Do you know her identity?” Gong Xiaoyun asked.

“Of course not,” Zhanyue naturally didn’t know.

“Three thousand years have passed. The world remembers the illumination Goddess but has forgotten the Four Symbol Lords. The Four Symbol Lords were the four strongest humans after the Goddess, and among them, only one was a woman – the Vermilion Bird Lord, Yue Lingchen. She was the founding emperor of our Thousand Charms Empire. Legend has it she was also the world’s only ninth-grade Alchemist,” Gong Xiaoyun explained.

“Ninth-grade Alchemist?” Baizhi was lost in thought. That was a realm countless Alchemists could only look up to.

“Sister, did you know about this?” Zhanyue curiously contacted the illumination Goddess. She had mentioned the Vermilion Bird Lord before; they seemed to be close friends. The illumination Goddess suspected that after her death, it was the Vermilion Bird Lord who collected her body and buried her in the illumination Goddess statue, allowing her to enjoy the people’s faith day and night. Zhanyue hadn’t expected the Thousand Charms Empire to be founded by the Vermilion Bird Lord. No wonder its status was so special, never allying with others yet no one dared to offend it. And no wonder Alchemy Capital appeared in the Thousand Charms Empire.

“Before I died, she hadn’t established a country yet, but she had mentioned this to me. She said all the empires in the world were inherited by men, which was quite boring. If she had the chance in the future, she would establish a nation ruled by women, where only females could inherit the throne. I didn’t expect she really did it,” the illumination Goddess sighed. Unfortunately, after thousands of years, Yue Lingchen must have passed away long ago, and she could no longer see her.

“Vermilion Bird Lord, Vermilion Bird Lord… Sister, did your friend master the South Ming离 Fire?” Zhanyue asked curiously. If she had mastered the South Ming 离 Fire, things would be interesting. He gave Baizhi a strange look.

“She didn’t. Although the Four Symbol Lords were called the Four Symbols, they actually had no connection to the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, or Black Turtle. It’s just that they happened to be born in four different directions – east, south, west, and north. The Vermilion Bird Lord was born on a small island in the south,” the illumination Goddess replied.

“Is that so,” Zhanyue was a bit disappointed. He had thought Baizhi might have some connection to the Vermilion Bird Lord, but it turned out the title of Four Symbol Lords was so casually given.

What neither the illumination Goddess nor Zhanyue knew was that after the Goddess’s death, the Vermilion Bird Lord lived for a long time. She not only awakened the South Ming 离 Fire but also became a tenth-grade Alchemist, attempting to revive the Goddess through pill dao. In the end, she failed and lost her own life in the process. Of course, this all happened after the Goddess’s death, and such a secret was unknown to anyone in the world.

“We’ve arrived,” Gong Xiaoyun landed directly in the imperial palace. She looked at the sky and said, “It’s late. Her Majesty should be asleep by now. You should rest and prepare well. You’ll have an audience tomorrow.”

Zhanyue asked curiously, “With Her Majesty’s cultivation level, does she need to sleep so early every day?”

Gong Xiaoyun’s face showed a mysterious smile, but she said, “Her Majesty just likes to sleep. Well, don’t ask too much about this.” Gong Xiaoyun naturally knew that the Empress herself was an eighth-grade Alchemist who refined pills daily. Pill refining was most taxing on the spirit, and even for someone of her status, sleep was the best way to restore spiritual power.

After settling the two in a side palace, Gong Xiaoyun said to them, “You’ll have to make do here for the night. There aren’t many complex rules in the palace. I’ll come for you early tomorrow morning.”

“Alright,” Zhanyue and Baizhi nodded.

“Oh, one more thing,” Gong Xiaoyun said to Zhanyue, “The inner palace is all women. Young Master Zhan, it’s best not to wander around to avoid gossip. Although Her Majesty doesn’t care about empty reputations, there’s no need to create unnecessary trouble, right?”

“Don’t worry, Sister Gong. I’ll keep an eye on him,” Baizhi said first.

Zhanyue was speechless. Was his character really so untrustworthy?

There were many empty rooms in the side palace, but the two weren’t in a hurry to retire separately. Zhanyue finally let the two little cats out for some air.

“I’ve been thinking, Little Mo and Little Xue should stay with you for now. Staying in the storage space with me all day isn’t good for them. Now that you’re a princess with your own fief, it’s quite reasonable for you to keep two rare and strange beasts,” Zhanyue said, looking at the two cats. These two beast spirits were still weak and couldn’t help him much. As he traveled, he didn’t have much time to care for them, so letting Baizhi raise them was perfect.

“Also, here’s a beast cultivation method I got for free. Remember to supervise their cultivation,” Zhanyue also gave Baizhi the beast cultivation method he obtained from that mysterious girl.

The two little cats curiously looked around, playing with each other. Baizhi liked them and didn’t mind taking care of them, but she picked up on something else.

“Brother Zhan, are you planning to leave?” Baizhi’s eyes were full of reluctance. How long had it been since they reunited?

Zhanyue nodded, “A man of ambition should set his sights far. Now that you have princess status and your own fief, you can bring your grandmother to live there later. I feel at ease now. I’m cultivating both pill and martial arts. If it were just refining pill techniques, staying anywhere would be the same, but to train martial skills, I need more practice. I haven’t entered the Profound Realm yet, so I need to travel more. I plan to check out the Empire’s First United Academy. It won’t be very dangerous there. When I cultivate to the Profound Realm, I’ll come find you.”

“But if it’s just for study, we have the Thousand Charms Academy in our nation,” Baizhi was still reluctant, her watery eyes making Zhanyue’s heart a mess.

“It’s different. I considered the Thousand Charms Academy before, but it’s not suitable for me,” Zhanyue shook his head. He had discussed this with the illumination Goddess. The Empire’s First United Academy was more suitable for him, a place where geniuses gathered and competition was fierce. The Thousand Charms Academy was mostly for women and only recruited people from the Thousand Charms Empire. The level of competition was far less than in the Eastern Kingdom.

“Don’t worry. Look at this…” Zhanyue took out a token. “This token was given to me by the Eastern Kingdom’s Crown Princess. I’m not completely without backing in the Eastern Kingdom. There won’t be any danger.”

Baizhi looked at the token and pouted, “It’s precisely because it was given by that so-called Crown Princess that I’m worried.”

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