MMB Chapter 20 Contract
Chapter 20 Contract
Su Fan felt he was being very conscientious. The cost of creating a Seven Emotions Gourd was five years of lifespan. If he were to use Emotion Crystals to settle the debt, it would require 18250 Emotion Crystals.
However, it should be noted that even when Su Fan tried to give apples the property of extending lifespan by one year, it still required a lifespan of five years.
In other words, if they are not used to create wondrous objects, but rather to replenish the lifespan that has already been used, 20,000 emotion crystals can only extend lifespan by one year.
Although the strange item used for the transaction wasn't his own "Seven Emotions Gourd," they both looked like gourds, and he hadn't lied to them that it could indeed absorb emotions and condense them into emotional crystals.
"Twenty thousand... ninety percent... thirty cycles... compound interest..." Chen Yang counted on his fingers, his face growing increasingly grim with each calculation. Finally, he couldn't help but growl out, "Senior! These... these conditions are too much... How could we possibly pay them off? What's the difference between this and selling ourselves into servitude?!"
Luo Jiuchuan's gaze swept over Chen Yang indifferently, his eyes showing no anger, only the indifference of someone looking down at ants trying to discuss the height of a mountain.
"Selling yourself?" He chuckled lightly, casually toying with a gourd floating in front of him. The gourd spun slightly with his movement, shimmering with light. "If I really wanted you to sell yourselves, why go through all this trouble? It's only because I'm kind-hearted that you think it would be difficult for me to kill you all in the Mountain and Sea Realm, is it?"
Luo Jiuchuan continued, his voice carrying a hint of charity, "The Mountain and Sea Realm is vast and boundless, with countless opportunities on its eighty-one islands. Without emotional crystals, you can't even leave the End Island beneath your feet, let alone obtain stronger inheritances, prolong your life and increase your wisdom, or even... glimpse a sliver of immortality."
Emotional crystallization is the hard currency here, the ladder to climb. I'm giving you that ladder now, the price being only a part of the ladder itself. With the possibility of immortality before you, you actually find that too demanding?
Chen Yang fell silent in the face of Luo Jiuchuan's words, hesitant and not daring to speak.
Jiang He didn't care about the possibility of immortality, but he understood the value of the emotional crystal all too well. Putting everything else aside, if it weren't for other considerations, using an emotional crystal as a sample, it would be too easy to write a mountain of papers, reports, and books that would shock the physics community, allowing one to leave their mark on the history of physics.
Jiang He quickly finished the mental calculation, his expression solemn, and calmly said, "Senior, according to the requirements, if you want to repay the loan within thirty cycles, you need to repay the principal of 20,000 Emotion Crystals with 90% of the harvest. This means that you need to repay an average of about 667 Emotion Crystals per cycle, so you need to ensure that you can condense 72 Emotion Crystals per day."
The minimum repayment requirement is 56 crystals; otherwise, after thirty cycles, there will still be a principal shortfall, and interest will begin to accumulate, causing the debt to snowball and never be repaid. Can this Emotion-Absorbing Gourd consistently absorb and condense at least 56 emotional crystals per day? If not, this contract is not a stepping stone for us, but a dead end. Please enlighten us on this crucial point.
"Efficiency?" Luo Jiuchuan's tone remained unchanged, as if stating a simple fact. "The Emotion-Absorbing Gourd is a magical artifact, not an inanimate object. The amount it absorbs depends on whether the wearer's environment is emotionally rich or not."
His gaze swept over the crowd, like a teacher enlightening a dull student: "In crowded and noisy places, emotions are mixed and scattered. You may be able to absorb a large amount, but it will be slower to condense and the quality of the crystals you obtain will be mixed. If you encounter an extreme emotional outburst of great joy, sorrow, fear, or anger, the gains in a single instance may far exceed the efforts of several days. How to apply this is something you need to figure out for yourselves."
Luo Jiuchuan paused briefly, a cryptic smile playing on his lips: "If you spend your days among mediocre and apathetic people, it will naturally be as difficult as climbing to heaven. But if you put in a little effort, going to places like brothels, gambling dens, opera houses, or battlefields, let alone fifty-six, even more is not impossible."
After all, Su Fan would need to use the [Contract Pen] later, so he couldn't possibly lie to him, and besides, he didn't intend to make things difficult for him.
At this moment, Su Fan spoke up, his face filled with inquiry and caution: "Senior, magical artifacts are wondrous, and I naturally yearn for them. However, I have heard that for every advantage, there is a disadvantage. Everything in the world has two sides, and fortune and misfortune are intertwined. This Emotion-Absorbing Gourd can absorb the emotions of all living beings and condense them into such a wondrous object. I wonder... what kind of 'price' is required? What is required?"
Luo Jiuchuan explained without any hesitation, in a calm tone: "Every three years, the gourd needs to be filled with blood. Of course, this is easy; you can just find any animal, slaughter it, and take its blood. Besides, the gourd isn't very big, so you can even feed it with your own blood. At the same time, the user's pupils will turn golden, and this process is irreversible. These two things are the price."
Hearing this, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief. The price wasn't too excessive.
At that moment, Luo Jiuchuan exuded a chilling aura of oppression, as if his previous calm demeanor was merely a facade, now revealing his true power: "You have repeatedly questioned and bargained, what do you take my goodwill for granted? Each of you will have to do three things for me free of charge from now on. These three things must be within your capabilities, and must not harm your lives. However, you must not shirk your responsibilities, you must not question them, and you must do your best to complete them. This is a small punishment for your provocation today, but a great warning."
Chen Yang, Jiang He, and the others had no idea why Luo Jiuchuan had suddenly lost his temper.
Wang Jianguo raised his head. This honest man's face showed no sorrow or confusion, but rather a mixture of resolute determination, as well as the most direct awe and obedience to powerful forces honed through long-term life at the bottom of society.
He stepped forward, bowed deeply towards Luo Jiuchuan, his voice hoarse with nervousness but exceptionally clear: "Senior! I, Wang Jianguo, agree to this deal. Whether it's a debt or three other conditions, I accept them!"
With Wang Jianguo's consent, Chen Yang and Jiang He quickly accepted.
At this moment, Luo Jiuchuan took out a contract pen and said, "Words are no proof; this is my evidence."
Luo Jiuchuan gently touched the void with the [Contract Pen]. Without ink or paper, as the pen tip passed, characters appeared out of thin air, quickly intertwining and extending, transforming into four precisely structured light patterns of contract script that exuded an invisible binding force.
Suspended before Chen Yang, Jiang He, Wang Jianguo, and Su Fan, the contract terms were clearly reflected in their consciousness—all the previous agreements: debt, repayment method, interest, commission, three matters, and the costs of blood sacrifice and the Golden Eye. The penalties for breach of contract were written in an exceptionally terrifying manner. Only at the signatures of "Party A" and "Party B" was a soft, blank glow, waiting to be filled.
"This contract is here, in quadruplicate, written in a language you all know. Sign it if you wish." Luo Jiuchuan's voice was calm, and the contract pen floated to Su Fan and the others. "Sign it, and the Amorous Gourd will truly belong to you. If you don't sign, the previous agreement is null and void, and our fate ends here."
Jiang He carefully reviewed the contract to confirm it matched what had been discussed, then picked up the pen and signed her name. The others followed suit.
The contract flew back to Luo Jiuchuan's side, and Luo Jiuchuan casually wrote his name on it, thus completing the contract. The contract then transformed into a stream of light and merged into the bodies of the four people.
The flowing light formed by the contract on Su Fan's body was not because he was the second party, but because he was the first party. As for Luo Jiuchuan and Su Fan, they were the same person and could not possibly have signed a contract.
"The contract is complete, the mountains and seas bear witness." Luo Jiuchuan's voice echoed across Qingyu Island, carrying a strange resonance, as if resonating with the heavens and earth. With a flick of his sleeve, four gourds, each about the size of a fist, flew towards the four people, hovering precisely in front of them. The gourds were neither gold nor jade, their surfaces covered with naturally formed, mysterious patterns, which were now faintly glowing, establishing a subtle connection with their respective owners.
"The Gourd of Affection is here; each of you should keep it safe," Luo Jiuchuan said calmly. "You should already know how to use it. You are also aware of the timing of the blood sacrifice and the transformation of the Golden Eyes."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the four of them. His already aloof eyes now held an even colder, more authoritative air: "You have likely already sensed the power of the contract. The stream of light that has merged into your bodies is both the proof and the shackles. If you harbor any illusions and intend to violate the terms of the contract—whether it's defaulting on payments or resisting those three things—this stream of light will trigger the rules and forcibly enforce the consequences of breach. At that time, your soul will be annihilated, and you will likely be condemned to eternal nothingness, without even the chance to remain a wisp of a soul in this Mountain and Sea Realm."
"The deal is done. Take care of yourselves. Perhaps you and I are not in the same world, but no one can owe me a debt!" Luo Jiuchuan said no more, turned around, and stepped onto the auspicious seven-colored cloud that had stopped beside him at some point.
The four-eyed square statue that had stood silently transformed into a beam of black light and disappeared into its sleeve. Auspicious clouds swirled, carrying it up suddenly at great speed, transforming into a streak of seven-colored light on the horizon in the blink of an eye, disappearing into the distance where the floating islands and clouds shrouded the sky.
Su Fan also adopted a solemn and slightly awe-inspiring expression, just like the other three. Inwardly, however, he was delighted, thinking he had gained three more employees.
Given Luo Jiuchuan's formidable strength and the power of the contract pen, they shouldn't violate the contract.
Chen Yang was the first to move. He grabbed the gourd floating in front of him—it felt warm and smooth to the touch, much lighter than he had imagined, and the patterns on its surface shone slightly upon contact, as if they had been activated. He examined it from all angles, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of excitement and hesitation.
"They...they really gave it to us?" he murmured, then remembered the mountain of debt and the three promises. His excitement vanished, and his face fell. "Twenty thousand...and we still have to pay ninety percent...when will we ever get around to that?"
Su Fan spoke up at the opportune moment: "Collecting seventy emotion crystals every day should pay off the debt in about a year. As for the promise, the other party probably won't need us to do anything in the short term!"
Jiang He first carefully sensed the contractual light that had merged into her body. A subtle sense of constraint lingered deep within her consciousness; it wasn't uncomfortable, but it clearly reminded her of the weight of her promise. She looked at the gourd, which was unassuming and simple. If she hadn't witnessed Luo Jiuchuan's methods firsthand, it would have been almost indistinguishable from a cheap antique item costing a few dozen yuan.