Chapter 42: Contracting the Bizarre Old Man

Guo Sheng was dead, leaving only Xia Tianqiong and Bai Tianxiong visible on the celestial projection.

The more than two hundred cat-demon ghost avatars split into two groups: one went after Bai Tianxiong, and the other pursued Xia Tianqiong.

Meanwhile, the two or three thousand survivors were also frantically searching for the two of them.

Everyone knew that as long as these two were killed, the game would end, and the others could leave this place alive.

Suddenly, the ghost domain became exceptionally lively as everyone actively searched for them.

Bai Tianxiong's reaching-heaven rope was a ghost artifact that allowed him to ascend into the air and land elsewhere.

Relying on this item, he hid and fled, evading pursuit.

At first, things went smoothly; neither the ordinary cat-people nor the cat-demon ghost avatars could catch him.

However, he could not stop. The cat-demon ghost avatars were too fast, and no matter where he appeared, they would arrive in less than a minute.

He had no choice but to continuously use the reaching-heaven rope.

Yet, this ghost artifact, much like ghost arts, exacted a price upon use.

Bai Tianxiong only carried seventy or eighty thousand underworld banknotes, which could sustain him for seventy or eighty uses at most.

Realizing his underworld banknotes were running out, he began to panic.

Being caught meant certain death.

Suddenly, he remembered that Xia Tianqiong possessed a vast amount of underworld gold, and perhaps he could borrow some money from him.

"Mr. Xia, where are you?"

Thus, as Bai Tianxiong fled for his life, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Originally, he possessed a ghost artifact capable of tracking people, but for some reason, it had malfunctioned and could no longer locate Xia Tianqiong.

At this moment, Xia Tianqiong was inside the mirror space, so naturally, no one could find him.

Even the cat-demon ghost avatars had no idea where he was hiding.

Inside the mirror space.

A skinny, hunched old man was being besieged by over a hundred Xia Tianqions.

Though he looked frail and weak, every sweep of his claws shattered seven or eight mirror avatars as easily as popping balloons.

This cat-demon ghost avatar must have been at the fierce-ghost level, yet relying on the endless stream of mirror avatars, they managed to barely keep it entangled.

Xia Tianqiong stood at a distance, watching silently, not daring to get close.

The eight shop assistants had previously suffered heavy injuries, nearly having their ghost bodies shattered, but after recovering with gold, they were able to resume fighting.

Hiding within the mirrors, they would occasionally launch a sneak attack, which was enough to freeze the cat-demon ghost avatar for a second or two.

"Master, please have a seat and watch. Don't exhaust yourself. This old ghost is not easy to deal with, and it will probably take quite a while."

The delivery ghost brought over a chair and placed it behind Xia Tianqiong.

Unable to participate in such brutal combat, it could only stay by Xia Tianqiong's side, under the guise of protecting its master as his ultimate shield.

Xia Tianqiong was quite satisfied with it, nodding as he sat down in the chair to continue observing the battle.

Time ticked away second by second.

Ten minutes, thirty minutes, an hour—countless mirror avatars had been destroyed. In total, the mirror ghost had consumed dozens of taels of gold to replenish its nether energy.

Ordinary ghost hunters could never afford such a steep cost.

The old-man-shaped cat-demon ghost avatar was finally beaten to the ground.

It collapsed because its own nether energy had been completely exhausted, after which a swarm of mirror avatars pinned it to the floor.

"Form a contract with me, and I will spare your life."

It was only at this moment that Xia Tianqiong dared to approach.

The old ghost had a face full of wrinkles and a head of silver hair, but its eyes were exceptionally bright.

"I am merely an avatar. If I die, so be it; I cannot let my main body suffer because of me."

Xia Tianqiong was stunned. The old ghost spoke clearly with logical thoughts, indicating a rather high level of intelligence.

Had he known, he wouldn't have bothered capturing it.

"You possess your own thoughts and consciousness. Are you truly willing to die?"

"Hehe, as long as the main body survives, it can split into countless more of me."

"Would that still be the current you?"

The old ghost fell silent, closing its eyes and refusing to speak further.

An avatar's consciousness stems from a portion of the main body's consciousness, yet it remains independent. Once it dies, when the main body splits again, a new consciousness will be born, which naturally will not be the original one.

Sensing an opportunity, Xia Tianqiong suddenly materialized various dishes of food and placed them in front of it.

"Form a contract with me, and I will keep you well-fed and provided for. Every single day, as much as you want to eat."

The old ghost cracked open an eye to glance at them before closing it again. "Save the nonsense and just kill me. The main body will avenge me, and there is no way you will leave the ghost domain alive."

Refusing to give up just yet, Xia Tianqiong thought for a moment and had the delivery ghost bring over a pile of gold.

"Do you see this? I have gold in abundance. Follow me, and you will have endless wealth to spend. I can even guarantee to use gold to help raise your level."

"You actually possess this much underworld gold?"

The old ghost opened its eyes once more, this time widening them so abruptly that its eyeballs nearly popped out.

"Why didn't you bring this out sooner? You young people are truly clueless. If you had shown this earlier, we wouldn't have had to fight for so long, nearly rattling my old bones apart."

Incredgiving way to wild ecstasy, its attitude shifted so rapidly that Xia Tianqiong was left dumbfounded.

It seemed the old ghost's weakness was a love for wealth.

"Are you willing to contract with me?"

"Give me all this underworld gold, and I will sign a fifty-year egalitarian contract with you."

Squinting, the old ghost proposed what it thought was an exorbitant price, waiting for the other party to haggle.

"I want to sign a master-servant contract, because you were defeated by me rather than offering to sign voluntarily."

"That will not do. I would rather die than sign a master-servant contract; that is an insult to our kind."

Xia Tianqiong saw nothing wrong with this statement, but the nearby mirror ghost, delivery ghost, and eight shop assistants immediately darkened their expressions.

They all glared at the old ghost as if wanting to beat it to death.

"An egalitarian contract is acceptable, I suppose."

Thinking it over, Xia Tianqiong decided to take a step back.

After all, he needed to use this contract as a stepping stone to indirectly contract the cat-demon ghost; he couldn't actually kill it.

"There are over a hundred taels of gold here. Ten years is far too short; we must sign for at least a hundred years."

"No, twenty years at most."

"Eighty years."

"Thirty years."

Man and ghost bargained back and forth, finally settling on a fifty-five-year egalitarian contract, with the option to renew, extend, or terminate upon expiration.

Grinning from ear to ear, the old ghost clutched the pile of gold, feeling as though it had swindled a total fool and scored a massive bargain.

Had it known how effortlessly Xia Tianqiong earned money, it likely would not have entertained such thoughts.

"Old ghost, I have a task for you."

"Making me work requires payment."

The old ghost wore the expression of a miser.

This was precisely the drawback of an egalitarian contract compared to a master-servant contract—making a ghost work or utilizing its ghost arts required paying a corresponding price.

Xia Tianqiong did not care about spending money. "As long as the job is done well, I will give you another hundred taels of gold."

"Such a wonderful thing exists?"

The old ghost's smiling face bloomed like a chrysanthemum, but mid-smile, its expression suddenly froze as it guessed something.

"You intend to use me to indirectly contract the main body?"

When an avatar bound by a contract re-merges with the main body, the contractual bond transfers along with it to the main body.

However, this type of contract exerts only partial efficacy over the main body and cannot completely bind it, which is why it is called an indirect contract.

Xia Tianqiong did not care whether it was indirect or not; as long as he could establish a connection with the cat-demon ghost's main body, he would have plenty of opportunities in the future to persuade it into signing a complete contract.

"Precisely. That is the plan. Shortly, I will let you leave to merge back with the other avatars and form the main body."

"That is likely impossible."

The old ghost shook its head like a rattle-drum.

"What? Thinking the pay is too low? I'll add another hundred taels."

Xia Tianqiong was desperate to contract the cat-demon ghost. It was an extremely rare fierce ghost possessing its own ghost domain, boasting immense growth potential.

In his previous life, it had eventually ascended to the ghost-general level.

The old ghost continued to shake its head. "Once I leave this space, the main body will sense it and realize I have formed a contract with a human.

Given the main body's temperament, it would rather cripple its own strength by stripping me away than allow me to merge back into it."

It stopped there, leaving the rest unsaid.

In truth, there was another possibility.

The main body might very well kill Xia Tianqiong, thereby breaking the contract without losing a single avatar.

The primary reason the old ghost insisted on an egalitarian contract was precisely to scheme toward this outcome.

"Surely not!"

Xia Tianqiong found it hard to believe, as this contradicted the intelligence he had gathered.

In his previous life, that ghost hunter had not claimed such a thing; he had contracted a single avatar, and upon their merger, the cat-demon ghost was naturally and effortlessly contracted.

The entire process had proceeded without anomalies or accidents.

Yet now, things appeared entirely different.

Where had things gone wrong?

Had the ghost hunter concealed crucial information, or had he been spouting falsehoods to deceive people?

If that were truly the case, it would spell absolute disaster for Xia Tianqiong.

Unable to indirectly contract the cat-demon ghost, he would fail to resolve this deadly game.

And in the end, he would most likely be slaughtered by the cat-demon ghost.

Just as a wave of despair crept into his heart, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him.

"What if I contract every single one of its avatars? Wouldn't that be equivalent to contracting the main body?"