All Things Are Contracts

“Hero after hero sacrificed themselves. Some died directly on Monkey Mountain, some managed to return alive but fell into madness, and without exception, all ended up committing suicide. Until our ancestor personally went to Monkey Mountain. Unfortunately, he too returned in failure, and has been insane ever since. At least he didn’t end his own life like the others,” Chief Ming Guang’s eyes were visibly filled with melancholy. After all, the extinction of the Spirit Eye Clan might truly be not far off. Only one sacred tree remained, and the clan’s strongest ancestor had gone mad.

“I’ll take you to see him,” Chief Ming Guang continued to guide the blind snake forward, passing through the cemetery to arrive at a place piled with jumbled rocks. In the midst of the forest, this area clearly stood out as man-made.

A house made of piled stones, a yard of piled stones, and an elderly Spirit Eye Clan member with his limbs chained to stone pillars. Eight daggers were embedded in his shoulder blades, sealing his cultivation with a secret technique.

“Ancestor… Ancestor, I’ve come to see you again,” Chief Ming Guang looked at his clan’s ancestor with immense pain. Unfortunately, he was now insane, and if not restrained, the consequences would be unthinkable.

“The ancestor voluntarily sealed his own cultivation and agreed to be chained. He did this before completely losing his sanity. He knew that once he went mad, given his strength, he might cause great harm to the clan members. So he chose to harm himself instead, to be chained far from the clan territory, living like a stray dog,” Ming Guang became more emotional as he spoke, tears welling up in his single eye.

Zhanyue and Yunyao’s faces were filled with respect, but now that their most important lead had gone insane, their task seemed difficult to accomplish. The three jumped down from the giant snake and approached the Spirit Eye ancestor.

“Hehe,” the insane Spirit Eye ancestor giggled foolishly upon seeing the visitors, then shortly after began to cry. “I’m useless, I’m useless, I can’t do anything.”

After berating himself, the Spirit Eye ancestor ran up to Yunyao. “How did you grow up to be so beautiful? Look at me, look at me, I’m so ugly, I’m so ugly, old and ugly, old and ugly.”

Then, he crawled on all fours to Zhanyue, comparing their heights. “See? Am I not useless? I’m so short, why am I so short? I’m useless.”

“Ancestor, stop it, you’re not useless, you’re not…” Ming Guang grabbed his shoulders, trying to bring him to his senses. “Look at them, they’re celestial beings, they’ve eliminated the Fear Beast. Our Spirit Eye Clan can be saved…”

Ming Guang spoke loudly, wanting to share this good news with his ancestor, hoping it might restore his sanity. Clearly, he was being too optimistic.

“Saved? Saved? Hehe, you’re lying to me, you’re lying to me. The Disaster Beasts are invincible, they’re invincible. We’re so insignificant, how could we possibly be their match? I’m useless, I’m useless, the Spirit Eye Clan will become extinct because of me, the Spirit Eye Clan will become extinct because of me, wuwuwu, wuwuwu, what should I do, I’m just useless!!” The Spirit Eye ancestor became hysterical again, then burst into loud sobs.

“It seems he’s truly gone mad,” Zhanyue and Yunyao’s expressions were grim. The Spirit Eye ancestor’s mental state was too poor; they feared they couldn’t get any useful information from him. “He keeps belittling himself, why is that?”

“Why? It’s all because of that Disaster Beast. All Disaster Beasts are manifestations of the dark sides of living beings’ hearts. The beast you eliminated earlier controlled fear, while the Mirror-Hugging Monkey controls the power of inferiority and self-deprecation. The ancestor’s current state actually shows how strong his inner heart is. Many who managed to escape before committed suicide after returning.”

“Inferiority and self-deprecation?” Zhanyue recalled his experience defeating the Fear Beast and asked, “Couldn’t we just find someone who doesn’t know their own limitations, who’s conceited and extremely arrogant to counter it?”

Chief Ming Guang shook his head, “You’re oversimplifying it. There are many arrogant people in the world, but most fall into two categories. First, those who use arrogance to mask their inner inferiority – these people are helpless against this Disaster Beast. Second, those who are arrogant due to ignorance – when they see a broader world and have their perceptions thoroughly shattered, they lose their confidence and are equally no match for the Disaster Beast. We need someone who can face the vastness of the stars without feeling insignificant, someone who truly possesses this mindset, not just pretending. Even a hint of inferiority or self-negation makes it difficult to defeat it. To have such a mindset, one still needs the aid of the divine artifact.”

“Yes… yes, the divine artifact! Where is it?” Zhanyue suddenly remembered their main task in coming here was to obtain the divine artifact. However, he immediately became confused, recalling that previous heroes had also taken the artifact to challenge the Disaster Beast. Some had died on Monkey Mountain, so shouldn’t the artifact be lost there?

“Come with me,” After checking on the ancestor, Chief Ming Guang led them back to the clan territory.

In the chief’s treehouse, he retrieved a wooden box from under the bed. However, when opened, the box was empty.

“The divine artifact used to be kept in this wooden box. This box is quite remarkable. Every time the artifact’s owner dies, it automatically returns to this box. Now, our ancestor is only insane, not dead, so the artifact hasn’t returned automatically,” Ming Guang explained.

“Why not kill him to make the artifact return?” Yunyao, who hadn’t spoken for a while, suddenly spoke up, making Zhanyue and Chief Ming Guang break out in a cold sweat.

“I’m joking,” Yunyao said coldly. She wasn’t actually that cruel, but since this Book World was virtual, if everything was done purely to complete the task, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

“Well, you’re even making jokes now,” Zhanyue was speechless seeing Yunyao joke so seriously. He was sure that for a moment, she had truly considered it. But Zhanyue would have stopped her regardless. This wasn’t out of righteousness, but because he knew task completion was evaluated, and to get a perfect evaluation, many things had to be taken seriously.

“When our ancestor took the divine artifact to fight that Disaster Beast, I’m afraid the artifact ultimately fell into the beast’s hands,” Chief Ming Guang said somewhat embarrassedly.

“So you’re saying we need to open a room’s door, but the key is inside the room?” Zhanyue said helplessly. This time was indeed not as easy as the last. “As things stand, we can only try to steal back the divine artifact first.”

“Hmph, that’s your area of expertise,” Yunyao snorted coldly, recalling something unpleasant.

Zhanyue pouted. This woman was still holding a grudge. He had only taken one feather while she was unconscious, right? Besides, the Thousand Affinity Feather had chosen him, how could that be considered stealing? How could it be theft when fate chooses its master?

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Even someone as great as the Monkey King used these methods when faced with difficulties. I don’t find it shameful at all. Chief, what does the divine artifact look like? Could you forge an exact replica? I have a plan,” Zhanyue asked.

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