All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 185: The Trial Begins

Within the academy, a long-abandoned courtyard was suddenly swept clean of dust. Although cleaned, the dilapidated buildings still stood there. The courtyard was spacious, able to accommodate dozens or even hundreds of people. At this moment, eight people led by Wind Lord surrounded an ancient well in the courtyard, each occupying a position.

Wind Lord then threw a purple-black stone into the well. The abandoned well suddenly erupted with a golden light pillar, dazzling even in broad daylight. The light pillar pierced the sky, breaking through the clouds and shooting straight into space. People in Academy Town could see it, people throughout the Eastern Kingdom could see it, and even people in the neighboring Rising Sun Kingdom could see this terrifying light pillar tearing through the sky.

Alchemy Daoist and the Ascetic were hidden nearby, watching the sacred light pillar and feeling emotional. The hope of humanity seemed to be within this light pillar. It was the most crucial moment, and they couldn’t allow even the slightest accident. Fortunately, the Nightmares seemed sensible enough not to attack Academy Town at this time, knowing that countless experts were now in Academy Town, fully prepared.

Before the golden light dissipated, another change occurred. Array formation runes appeared around the ancient well. These runes were ancient and mysterious. Although unreadable, they gave people a surging feeling in their hearts, an irresistible urge to bow down in worship.

“Is this the power of the Celestial Emperor?” Wind Lord’s expression was excited.

In the ancient era, at the peak of human civilization, nine Emperor Lords ruled the mortal world, living in the Void Heaven and collectively known as the Nine Emperors of Void Heaven. Below the Emperor Lords were countless Saints, such as the Jade Stone Twin Saints who passed down divine abilities to Zhanyue and others. At that time, humans suppressed all races, their fame resounding throughout the starry realms. However, later, the Crimson Tide invaded, various realms withered, and even the human stronghold, the Myriad Spirits Realm, finally fell, leaving only this small pure land. In that battle, all nine Emperor Lords perished, but fortunately, they each left behind their legacies.

This Heaven Book world was the legacy of the ‘Void Heaven Emperor’, the leader among the nine Emperor Lords. The Void Heaven Realm was also the domain opened by the Void Heaven Emperor. Only those who knew this, like Alchemy Daoist and Wind Lord, understood what the legacy of the Heaven Book world truly meant.

“Alright, let’s each exert our full strength, inject power into the array formation, and activate the opening of the Heaven Book world!” Wind Lord instructed. Then, the eight people who had already prepared began to act.

Holy Maiden Lixi occupied the Qian position, transforming the light power in her hands into mysterious force and fusing it into the array. This was the power of the heavens, and it was appropriate for her to activate the Qian trigram.

Zhanyue occupied the Kun position. He summoned the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron, gathering endless earth vein power and injecting it into the array.

Gong Xiaoshui occupied the Kan position. As a Water Contractor, she easily injected surging water power into the array. She also took the opportunity to secretly glance at Zhanyue, her feelings complex.

Mi Hongchen occupied the Li position. Her unique fire domain instantly expanded, and fierce fire power lit up the array.

The Eastern Kingdom Emperor Mi Donglai occupied the Gen position, releasing heavy mountain power from his body into the array.

Thunder Lord and Wind Lord occupied the Zhen and Xun positions respectively, easily activating the array.

Sword Lord, who had already rushed back, occupied the Dui position, inserting his sword into the ground, all its sharpness absorbed by the array.

At this point, the eight-direction array was complete, and the originally golden light pillar turned colorful. The surrounding people were moved and excited. Soon after, a golden book emerged from the well, then opened by a mysterious force.

“This… this is the Heaven Book!”

Everyone was incredibly shocked, but the most astonished was Zhanyue. He could feel that inexplicable tremor, just like when he first saw the Illumination Goddess statue and the Earth Mother Golden Cauldron. Was this Heaven Book his contract object?!

“This… how is this possible!” Zhanyue said puzzledly. Then he looked at Thunder Lord and asked, “Can I take a look at it?”

Thunder Lord looked at Zhanyue puzzledly but didn’t refuse, “Be careful, this is an Emperor-level artifact. They repel those who dare to approach.”

Zhanyue nodded and walked up under everyone’s gaze, touching the golden pages. He felt a huge force coming, directly blasting him away.

Thunder Lord protected him in time.

“See? It’s indeed so. Emperor-level artifacts can’t be touched at will,” Thunder Lord smiled.

However, at this moment, Zhanyue was irritated. He had never encountered such a thing before. This Heaven Book was clearly his contract object, why was it repelling him? Not submitting? What should he do?

“Alright, Wind Lord, let’s begin,” Thunder Lord then said to Wind Lord.

Wind Lord nodded, stepped forward, and respectfully said, “May the Book Spirit please awaken and initiate the Heaven Book Trial.”

No one responded, so Wind Lord raised his voice and said again, “May the Book Spirit please awaken and initiate the Heaven Book Trial.”

Everyone looked at each other, wondering why there was no response.

“May the…” Before Wind Lord could finish, he was interrupted by a lazy, charming female voice.

“I heard you, what are you shouting for? I was sleeping so well,” the Book Spirit’s voice came, then continued, “According to our previous discussion, send in twelve children. The old ones won’t do.”

“Thank you, Book Spirit,” Seeing the Book Spirit respond, Wind Lord finally relaxed. The Book Spirit’s temper was unpredictable, often ignoring them.

Then the twelve pre-selected people were already prepared nearby.

“Book Spirit, this child is not even ten years old, is that alright?” Wind Lord asked, pointing at Meng Xiaodie, who had been saved by Zhanyue before. The little girl was a bit timid, holding Mi Hongchen’s hand tightly.

“Oh? Eyes of Heavenly Calamity, what good material. Of course it’s fine. The Heaven Book Trial isn’t a life-threatening place, there’s no danger to life. You all come in quickly, I’ve arranged everything, so I can go back to sleep soon,” the Book Spirit replied.

Everyone looked at each other, but Tai’e was the first to step forward bravely. He placed his hand on the Heaven Book, and unlike Zhanyue being repelled earlier, he directly disappeared, entering the Heaven Book world.

“You should all go in too. Remember, this trial not only concerns your future but also the future of the human race. Please take it seriously,” Thunder Lord said to everyone.

Everyone’s faces were serious as they nodded.

Then, Yunyao, Huang Xueqing, Fan Longyu, Liu Zhaoran, Feng Bulang, Zhanyue, MuMu Lixi, Baizhi, Nangong Weilai, Meng Xiaodie, and Yu Xuanyi from the Azure Wind Realm all entered the Heaven Book. After the twelve were in place, the colorful light shooting into the sky finally dissipated. The Heaven Book vanished from everyone’s sight, and the ancient well returned to its ordinary appearance.

“Let’s hope everything goes well for them,” Thunder Lord sighed. “We should also do our part. We can’t let the Goddess shield us from everything. We need to quickly find out why some Nightmares are not afraid of the Illumination Tower.”

In the depths of an endless void, a figure appeared, not in human form appearing the size of a dozen large planets. It slowly opened its eyes, each eye as large as a star, with hundreds of such eyes on its body.

“Finally awake?” another voice said.

“The malice of fate…I actually sensed it. A pseudo-god was born in a distant place. Although this pseudo-god is very weak, it is indeed a pseudo-god.”

“Do you need me to handle it?” the mysterious voice asked.

“I’ll send a strand of my divine will. I need to confirm some things personally,” the huge shadow blinked hundreds of eyes and said.

“The journey is long, be careful.”

“Careful? We are the masters of this starry sky, what would I need to be careful about?” That great being sank back into the dark void. Such a small matter wasn’t worth occupying too much of its time.

“A pseudo-god… Are there any unsubmitted races in the southeast of the starry sky? Could it be…that place? That lost realm where nine insects made us lose face completely. Humans? I remember it was this race. Such a weak existence actually produced a pseudo-god? Even those nine insects didn’t become pseudo-gods. How strange, no wonder it suddenly woke up.”

With that, this mysterious person took out a glass ball, drawing power from it. “The faith power of humans is actually still so dirty and mixed. Disgusting this thing can’t even be sold. Such a trash race isn’t even worth our special effort, we only dealt with them in passing back then. Even such a lowly race thinks they can produce gods? Do they think they’re worthy of having free will?”

“Well, I guess we’ll know when it returns.” the mysterious person smirked.