Chapter 12 - Battle Blade Slaughter

There are two main types of contracts between humans and magical beasts: servant contracts and equal contracts. As the names suggest, a servant contract binds the magical beast as the human's thrall, whose life and death depend solely on the human's whim—if the human dies, the beast dies too. An equal contract, however, establishes a peer relationship, turning them into comrades-in-arms. Even if the human perishes, the beast survives, and the contract can be terminated at any time.Naturally, Baruch would never sign a servant contract with the God-Eating Rat Beibei. Not only would that offend Beirut, but such contracts also gravely harm magical beasts, sapping their spiritual essence. But this Wyvern was merely a subspecies of dragon, with mediocre aptitude—it would struggle to reach the 9th rank, let alone become a Sanctuary or God-Realm being. To Baruch, this Wyvern was nothing more than a means of transport."Asus, take me to your lair. I want to see what you've collected over the years." Three hours later, after Baruch cast several Light-element healing spells, Asus's wounds had healed by a third, and Baruch spoke up.All dragons—true dragons and subspecies alike—share a common obsession: hoarding shiny objects. On the Yulan Continent, records abound of dragons laying waste to lands and causing chaos just to seize a single glittering trinket.Thus, many humans on Yulan dream of becoming dragon slayers. It brings not only great fame but also immense riches.After all, every part of a dragon is a treasure. Dragon blood is an excellent material for drawing magic scrolls, dragon scales for crafting top-tier armor… The corpse of an 8th-rank dragon alone is worth over a million gold coins, and an 8th-rank magic core fetches an exorbitant price too.Asus was an 8th-rank peak magical beast, fully mature and at least hundreds of years old. Countless humans had fallen to its claws, so its hoard must be substantial."Master, my lair is atop this cliff—hold on tight!" Asus felt no reluctance now. Having signed the servant contract, everything it owned belonged to its master Baruch; this was only right.Baruch climbed onto Asus's back, and with a flap of its wings, they soared into the sky. In mere heartbeats, Baruch spotted a cave—not overly large, about six meters wide, pitch-black inside yet flickering with occasional glimmers.At the cave mouth, Baruch dismounted and entered with Asus. The moment he stepped in, he froze in shock: the walls were lined with countless glittering crystal balls, and a massive pile of gold coins lay on the ground—easily hundreds of thousands of them."Damn, you're loaded!" Baruch's net worth exceeded this pile of gold, but he'd never seen so much coin in one place. On Yulan, carrying large sums of gold was impractical; transactions were done via magic crystal cards instead.As for the crystal balls, Baruch cared little for them. They were just ordinary crystals, cheap and common—one could buy one in Finlay City for a single silver coin."Hmm? A ring?" Baruch noticed a ring inlaid with an amethyst-gold diamond on the ground, his eyes lighting up. "Could this be a spatial ring?"Spatial rings were priceless treasures, the pinnacle of Yulan's alchemical art. Legend said they were forged by the Goblin Race over a hundred million years ago. After the goblins vanished from Yulan, no one had been able to craft them again, making them extremely rare—even Sanctuary powerhouses didn't all possess one.Once activated with blood to bind to its owner, no one else could open a spatial ring. It was the ultimate mobile vault.Baruch pricked his finger and let a drop of blood fall on the ring, which absorbed it instantly. A faint connection formed between him and the ring."Let's check the space inside." Baruch closed his eyes, and an enormous space unfolded in his perception. "Forty thousand square meters! It's a spatial ring from a Higher Plane or the God Realm!"Baruch's heart raced. Most spatial rings on Yulan were just one or two square meters; even the best ones were only a dozen or twenty. A hundred-square-meter ring was unheard of, let alone forty thousand!Undoubtedly, this ring hailed from the God Realm or a Higher Plane.Baruch wondered how Asus had obtained it—whoever owned it must be a powerhouse far beyond Asus's ability to provoke."Asus, where did you get this ring?" he asked curiously.Asus replied, "Master, it was left to me by my parents. I don't know where they got it."To Asus, this unremarkable ring was far less appealing than the crystals on the walls.Baruch was speechless, then turned to explore the ring's contents. "Obsidian? So the original owner was a God-Realm powerhouse from the Hell Higher Plane. Wait—this is a battle blade?"It was a colossal blade tinged with blood red. Its icy killing intent and stench of blood overwhelmed Baruch in an instant."Come forth!" The blade materialized in Baruch's hand. "It weighs five hundred jin! I can't tell what it's forged from!"He let another drop of blood fall, which merged with the blade at once. "A Mid-Rank Divine Weapon! Its former owner must have been a Low-Rank or Mid-Rank God!"Divine Weapons were graded as Low-Rank, Mid-Rank, High-Rank, and Overlord Divine Weapons. As their names implied: Low-Rank Divine Weapons were nurtured with Low-Rank God's power, Mid-Rank with Mid-Rank God's power, High-Rank with High-Rank God's power over years, and Overlord Divine Weapons with Overlord God's power through eons of tempering."From now on, your name is Slaughter—the Battle Blade Slaughter!" Baruch decided on a name on the spot."Twenty thousand units of obsidian… enough for when I go to Hell later," he thought to himself.Baruch searched the cave thoroughly but found nothing else valuable, so he casually stowed the pile of gold coins into the spatial ring."Asus, have you ever come across a terrifying mist-shrouded valley in the Magical Beast Mountains, teeming with 8th and 9th-rank beasts?" Baruch asked.He'd come all this way to the mountains—missing the Misty Valley would be a shame."Master means the Misty Valley?" Asus pondered. "It's fifty miles from here, but I beg you not to go. It's deadly—many dragons claim it. A hundred years ago, I tried to stake a claim there and nearly got eaten by one!"Asus sounded resentful yet fearful. The elemental energy at the valley's bottom was incredibly dense; cultivating there would yield immense benefits. It had no doubt that a thousand years of cultivation there would let it reach 9th rank."Don't worry, I'm just curious," Baruch smiled. He had no intention of risking it now. The valley swarmed with countless 8th and 9th-rank beasts, plus over a hundred dragons—going there would be suicidal for him.He didn't think he had Linley's incredible luck."Let's go take a look! When I grow stronger, I'll build a mansion there and cultivate," Baruch said.The elemental concentration in the Misty Valley was dozens of times denser than the outside world, and even a hundred times denser at the magic array's core—it was a perfect cultivation spot. In Baruch's eyes, even the Martial God's Martial God Mountain paled in comparison.Outside the cave, Baruch had Asus carry him again. Asus's flight speed was astonishing—even Sanctuary powerhouses might not match it. The fifty-mile journey passed in the blink of an eye.What came into Baruch's view was a mountain range stretching hundreds of miles, covered in dense forests. Crossing from one cliff face to the other required flying hundreds of meters.Standing on the cliff edge, Baruch found the valley bizarre: the two walls drew closer the farther they extended outward. At the narrowest point, they were barely a meter apart—one could step across easily."Master, hundreds of dragons live at the valley bottom, including Sanctuary-level ones," Asus warned.Baruch nodded. The valley was over ten thousand meters deep; the mist obscured everything below, making it impossible to see the world beneath.Then he spotted a faint blade of grass growing on the cliff. It was entirely emerald green, shimmering with a faint blue aura."Could this be Blue Heart Grass?" Baruch wondered. He knew Linley had activated his bloodline to become a Dragon Blood Warrior by drinking living dragon blood—and Blue Heart Grass was essential for that ritual, or the dragon blood would burn him alive.Baruch had checked the price of Blue Heart Grass before: each stalk cost tens of thousands of gold coins, and it was always sold out."What exactly is Blue Heart Grass, to have such miraculous effects?" he mused, confused."Asus, pluck that grass for me," Baruch ordered."Yes, master!" Asus flapped its wings, crossed to the other cliff, plucked the grass, and brought it back."It's so cool to the touch!" Baruch nodded, tore off a leaf, and watched as emerald liquid seeped out. He dipped a finger in and tasted it—it was incredibly refreshing."Strange, truly strange. The world is full of wonders," Baruch sighed. He couldn't fathom the reason behind it; perhaps it was simply the balance of all things, where one thing counteracts another.