All Things Are Contracts

“The divine artifact our clan guards is called the ‘Heart-Reflecting Mirror’. It’s a palm-sized mirror. I’ll draw it for you,” said Elder Ming Guang as he took out paper and brush to sketch the artifact.

Zhanyue and Yunyao received the drawing. It depicted a small crystal mirror, only palm-sized, with a handle attached below. It looked no different from the mirrors women carry for touch-ups.

“Chief, does the mirror have any magical properties?” Zhanyue asked.

Chief Ming Guang sighed and said, “It’s said to be one of the seven divine artifacts, but over all these years, we haven’t found anything special about it. Just… just that things reflected in it seem a bit clearer, that’s all.”

Zhanyue and Yunyao exchanged glances, thinking it was indeed as they expected. The so-called Sword of Courage had also been like scrap metal. The seven divine artifacts were merely seven clues to defeating the seven Disaster Beasts.

“Nothing special? Then can we make a replica?” Zhanyue asked again.

“Well…” The old chief walked to the bedside and pulled out a dust-covered box from underneath. Opening it revealed several mirrors inside.

“I almost forgot about these. Long ago, our clan had some Earth Spirit Clan craftsmen make a few identical mirrors. My predecessors took these replicas to travel, hoping to find information about how to use this mirror from the outside world. These mirrors are almost identical to the divine artifact,” Chief Ming Guang said. He realized he didn’t need to draw earlier if he had remembered these mirrors. He was indeed getting forgetful in his old age.

“So this is what the divine artifact looks like.” Zhanyue picked up one of the mirrors. “I plan to use this as bait to see if we can retrieve the real divine artifact.”

“What are you going to do?” Yunyao asked, puzzled.

“You’ll see later. I’m planning to go to Monkey Mountain first,” Zhanyue said. His plan might not succeed, but how would they know without trying?

“No, it’s too dangerous. It’s too risky to enter Monkey Mountain without the divine artifact,” Chief Ming Guang hurriedly advised.

“The divine artifact has already fallen into Monkey Mountain. To catch a tiger, one must enter the tiger’s den. To defeat that Disaster Beast, we must take risks,” Zhanyue explained.

Although Yunyao also knew the journey was dangerous, they had no other choice now. The worst outcome would be Zhanyue dying on Monkey Mountain, but if that happened, she wasn’t sure if their synchronized task could continue. For now, she could only trust him.

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Monkey Mountain was north of the Dreamlike Forest, a small mountain named for the many monkeys living there. As the seal weakened, the monkeys on Monkey Mountain increased in number and expanded their territory. One day, they would enter the Dreamlike Forest and affect the Spirit Eye Clan’s territory.

“This is it. According to the old chief, the monkeys on Monkey Mountain are all infected by the Disaster Beast’s aura and act as its eyes and ears?” A lone figure arrived at the foot of Monkey Mountain. This journey was only to retrieve the divine artifact, not to confront the Disaster Beast. Zhanyue took out a piece of purple wood, which instantly transformed into the shape of a Ghost Shark Clan member – Zhanyue’s external avatar. Zhanyue’s real body then burrowed underground.

The Ghost Shark avatar, holding the ‘fake divine artifact’, ascended the mountain. The forest wasn’t quiet; monkey calls could be heard frequently. Soon, the avatar saw monkeys hiding behind the trees, baring their teeth and making threatening noises.

The Ghost Shark avatar didn’t tolerate this. It picked up some stones and threw them at the monkeys, scattering them.

“So cowardly, yet daring to claim the mountain as king?” Zhanyue scoffed.

As he went deeper into Monkey Mountain, the monkeys became more numerous and bolder. They dared to stand on treetops staring at Zhanyue’s avatar, even throwing leftover fruit cores at him.

“Why are these all just ordinary monkeys? Why hasn’t the Disaster Beast appeared?” Just as Zhanyue was wondering, he keenly sensed a pair of eyes watching him. The terrifying aura sent chills down his spine.

He quickly turned around. Not far behind him stood a white monkey. It wasn’t large, about the same size as an ordinary monkey, but it was entirely snow-white. On its back, it carried a mirror, but it was a dressing mirror, completely different from the divine artifact.

Zhanyue didn’t dare underestimate this monkey. He could guess that this was the legendary Disaster Beast. Despite its small size, it was on the same level as the Fear Beast they encountered earlier – a monster possessing the power of laws.

The white monkey bared its teeth at Zhanyue, issuing a warning, then transformed into a white light and attacked. Zhanyue couldn’t even react before the white monkey was on his face, its paws frantically clawing at his avatar.

Zhanyue hurriedly threw it off. His avatar’s face was in tatters, but it quickly recovered. This was just an avatar constructed from spiritual objects, not a real physical body.

“Good thing it was just an avatar, and a high-level one at that. If it had been my real body, I’d probably be disfigured. This monkey… its speed is incredible,” Zhanyue thought, feeling a bit scared.

With this first experience, Zhanyue became fully alert, ready to match wits with the white monkey. In his hand, he held the Thunder-Controlling Divine Whip obtained from the previous task. Lightning surrounded his body as the Ghost Shark avatar engaged the white monkey again.

This white monkey was indeed extraordinary. It showed no fear of the lightning at all. After just a few exchanges, the Ghost Shark avatar was defeated. The avatar fought while retreating, terrifying lightning sweeping the surroundings, setting the entire forest ablaze. The fire quickly spread.

Seeing its territory set on fire, the white monkey became furious. Finally, it took the mirror from its back and held it in front. Seeing this, Zhanyue knew trouble was coming and quickly ran downhill.

However, a strange light suddenly shot out from the mirror. Just as the light was about to hit Zhanyue, he withdrew his soul consciousness, dispelling the avatar technique. The Ghost Shark body disappeared, replaced by a piece of purple wood. The strange divine light shone on the wood, naturally with no effect.

Hiding underground, Zhanyue felt his heart racing. If he had withdrawn his soul consciousness even a moment later, he would have been hit. He had a very strong feeling that he absolutely must not be touched by that light.

The white monkey came to where the purple wood lay. Besides the wood, on the ground lay a weapon – the Thunder-Controlling Divine Whip – and a mirror.

Seeing the mirror, the white monkey clearly paused. Hadn’t it already buried this thing? How did it come back? How annoying.

The white monkey, carrying the wood, the divine whip, and the mirror, returned victorious with its spoils. As for how a living person suddenly turned into a piece of wood, it didn’t care.

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