Chapter 929
Chapter 929
“Qi Shu…” Fu Shaoping smiled slightly.
Within that golden light lay a faint message from "Qi Shu," sent after a century of slumber: it had recovered remarkably well, the evil energy had been completely purified, and its origin was slowly being repaired. Perhaps in a few hundred years, it would be fully restored and reappear in the world.
Fu Shaoping raised his hand and gently touched the thread of light.
The light filament trembled slightly, conveying a final message—thank you and blessings.
Then, the light filaments slowly dissipated, returning to the depths of the void.
Fu Shaoping looked in the direction where the light filaments disappeared, his heart at peace.
"The essence of the contract lies in balance. Light and darkness, order and chaos, are all aspects of the Tao." He murmured to himself, "I have embarked on this path and will never turn back."
He stood up and looked into the distance.
The world is vast, and the journey is long.
And he was just getting started.
Just then, the long-dormant black fragment of the "Contract Order" in his arms suddenly became slightly warm.
Fu Shaoping had an idea and took it out.
The jet-black fragment, which had been refined and become part of his contract system, now had several extremely tiny lines of contract text appearing on its surface, seemingly from an extremely distant place:
"The leader of the Myriad Contracts Alliance... 'Shadow Abyss'... is hiding... in the 'Deadly Desert' of the Western Regions... deep within... the 'Ancient Demon Abyss'... intending to use... the last... means... to awaken... the origin of... the ancient... demonic contract... as a warning..."
The text flickered a few times and then disappeared.
Fu Shaoping's eyes narrowed.
The leader of the Myriad Alliance has finally been located.
Moreover, he seemed unwilling to give up and wanted to make a final, desperate struggle.
“Ancient Demon Abyss…Ancient Demon Contract…” Fu Shaoping pondered for a moment, then put away the fragments and looked towards the western direction.
After a century of waiting, this moment has finally arrived.
This time, he wouldn't let that madman escape again.
He took a deep breath, and his figure transformed into a streak of light, shooting off towards the west.
Behind me, the green mountains and the pine trees remain unchanged.
And ahead lies the final, fateful showdown.
The guardian of the Way of Contracts and the final leader of the Myriad Contracts Alliance will finally meet their end on this ancient land.
The westernmost region is a desolate and lifeless desert.
This is a forgotten land. Endless yellow sands, barren of everything, the sky forever shrouded in a layer of gray haze, impenetrable to sunlight. The air is thick with dryness, decay, and a faint, unsettling demonic aura.
Legend has it that in ancient times, this place was once a fertile land. Later, a celestial demon from beyond the realm descended and fought a fierce battle with powerful human beings. In the end, the demon was sealed away, and the land was turned into a desert. And that sealed place is the Ancient Demon Abyss, deep within the desert.
Fu Shaoping had been traveling through the desert for seven days.
The deeper one goes, the denser the faint demonic energy becomes. Unlike the twisted evil energy of the "Seed of Evil Pact," this demonic energy is more ancient and domineering, as if it comes from the rules of another world, incompatible with the laws of heaven and earth in the cultivation world.
"The leader of the Myriad Contracts Alliance... actually wants to awaken the ancient Demon Contract?" Fu Shaoping pondered the warning message from the dark fragment. A Demon Contract, as the name suggests, is a pact signed with a celestial demon. In ancient times, some cultivators, in pursuit of power, made deals with celestial demons, ultimately falling into demonic ways and becoming despised by all.
If that leader could truly accomplish this, it would likely trigger an even greater disaster than the birth of the "Seed of Evil Pact".
On the eighth day, Fu Shaoping finally arrived at the Ancient Demon Abyss.
This is a massive rift valley stretching across the depths of the desert, over a hundred miles wide and of unfathomable depth. Unlike the chaotic space of the Heavenly Abyss Rift Valley, the demonic energy here is almost solidified, forming a layer of gray-black demonic mist that surges and rises, enveloping the entire abyss.
At the edge of the rift valley stood several ancient stone tablets. The tablets were incomplete, covered in the marks of time, but the sealing runes engraved on them still emitted a faint glow. These were seals left by ancient powerful beings to suppress the celestial demons within the abyss.
However, at this moment, most of these sealing runes have faded, and there are even many signs of forced destruction.
"That madman... is really trying to break the seal." Fu Shaoping's heart sank.
Without further hesitation, he leaped into the abyss.
The feeling of falling lasted for a full half hour.
When Fu Shaoping stepped onto solid ground, he found himself in an extremely vast underground space. The scenery here was far more bizarre than the Eternal Night Ice Abyss.
The sky (if it could be called a sky) was a churning, crimson cloud of energy, occasionally punctuated by streaks of blood-red lightning. The ground was black, scorched earth reeking of sulfur, riddled with massive cracks from which flowed molten lava. The air was thick with the acrid smell of sulfur and an almost suffocating concentration of demonic energy.
In the center of the space stood a colossal altar, entirely constructed of jet-black rock. The altar had nine tiers, each covered with twisted runes not belonging to humans—the script of the demon race.
At the top of the altar stood a person.
Shadow Abyss, leader of the Myriad Alliance.
His hair was now disheveled, and his aura was even more eerie than it had been a hundred years ago. It was no longer pure evil, but a mixture of evil and demonic energy, with dark red demonic flames swirling around him. He stood atop the altar, his hands raised high, chanting obscure, chilling incantations.
As he chanted, the demonic energy around the altar began to surge wildly, the ground trembled, and magma churned. One by one, the demonic runes at the bottom of the altar lit up, emitting an eerie blood-red glow.
"Finally...he's here..." Yingyuan sensed Fu Shaoping's aura, slowly turned his head, revealing a face distorted by madness, "I have been waiting for you for a long time, Contract Venerable."
Fu Shaoping looked at him coldly: "Yingyuan, you have no way out. Awakening the ancient demonic contract will only lead to your utter destruction."
"Utter ruin?" Yingyuan laughed wildly. "Hahaha! I am already utterly ruined! The Myriad Contracts Alliance is gone, the Evil Contract Seed is gone, and the foundation I have painstakingly built over thousands of years has been destroyed by your hands! Since that's the case, then let's destroy everything together! Awaken the ancient demonic contract, summon the Heavenly Demons, and renew the covenant between heaven and earth! At that time, the entire world will submit to the new order!"
"He's gone mad." Fu Shaoping stopped talking and dashed towards the altar!
"Stop him!" Yingyuan shouted sharply.
Around the altar, dark figures darted out from the shadows! They were the last remaining warriors of Shadow Abyss—dozens of Golden Core Peak cultivators from the Myriad Contracts Alliance, and three Nascent Soul stage demons corrupted by demonic energy and already devoid of reason!
Fu Shaoping's eyes turned cold, and the light of the contract emanated from his body! It was no longer a single pale gold, but a deep and harmonious "complete contract light" that was sometimes pale gold, sometimes dark, and sometimes flowing with seven colors!
"Contract - Judgment Array!"
The light spread, transforming into a contract domain with a diameter of a hundred feet. Within the domain, the power of all enemy contract spells plummeted, their movements became sluggish, and the demonic energy on those monsters seemed to have encountered its nemesis, hissing and dissolving!
"kill!"
Fu Shaoping transformed into a streak of light, weaving through the enemy ranks!
With each finger strike, a Golden Core Peak cultivator from the Myriad Contracts Alliance falls to the ground, their evil contract foundation instantly sealed and stripped away! With each sword strike, a demon is severed from its demonic energy by the power of contract judgment, losing its fighting ability!
In the short span of half an incense stick's time, dozens of enemies fell!
Yingyuan watched all this, fear flashing in his eyes, but even more so, madness: "You think this is over? Too late!"
He bit his tongue hard, spitting out a mouthful of blood essence onto a huge magic crystal in the center of the altar! The magic crystal suddenly lit up, bursting with dazzling blood light! All the magic runes on the altar activated simultaneously! A thick pillar of blood-red light shot into the sky from the altar, piercing through the entire underground space and crashing into the dark red energy cloud!
"Boom—!"
The clouds churned violently, tearing open a massive fissure! Beyond the fissure lay a chilling, bottomless darkness. Within the darkness, countless twisted figures could be vaguely seen writhing, their roars filled with greed and malice echoing through the air.
That is... the Demon Realm!
The seal has been broken!
"Hahaha! The Heavenly Demon has descended! The world has returned to chaos!" Yingyuan laughed wildly.
However, his laughter abruptly stopped.
Because what emerged from that crack was not an army of demons, but a... indescribably huge, pitch-black demonic claw covered with strange runes.
The target of the demon's claws was not Fu Shaoping, but—the Shadow Abyss on the altar!
"What?!" Yingyuan was shocked and desperately tried to use his demonic energy to resist, but the power of that demonic claw was far beyond his ability to withstand.
"Insignificant ants... dare to... summon... us..." An ancient, evil, and oppressive voice echoed from the crack, "At the cost of... sacrifice... you... will be... the sacrifice..."
With a clench of its demonic claws, Ying Yuan screamed in agony as his body was instantly crushed! His flesh, blood, true essence, and soul were all absorbed by the demonic claws, transforming into wisps of crimson energy that surged into the crack!
Yingyuan, the last leader of the Myriad Contracts Alliance and a late-stage Nascent Soul expert, was devoured as a sacrifice by the Heavenly Demon he had personally awakened!
Fu Shaoping felt a chill run down his spine, but he had no way out. The Heavenly Demons had descended, and if they were allowed to break through the rift, the consequences would be unimaginable.
He took a deep breath and mustered all his strength!
"Origin Stone, aid me!"
"Dual-core command, resonate!"
"Pure evil origin, empower!"
The three forces converged and merged within him, combining with his own complete contractual path to transform into an unprecedented primordial contractual power containing order and chaos, light and darkness, balance and judgment!
He raised his hands high, and a beam of Primordial Contract light, more than ten feet in diameter, shot up from his body and crashed head-on into the expanding crack!
"In the name of the contract, seal it!"
The beam of light plunged into the crack, fiercely battling the demonic energy within! The sealing power surged wildly, attempting to close the crack again!
The demons in the rift seemed to sense the threat. Countless roars rang out, and more demonic claws and demonic energy surged out from the rift to contend with the Primordial Contract light pillar!
Stalemate!
The entire underground space was trembling violently, magma was boiling, and rock walls were collapsing! The magical runes on the altar began to flicker and crumble!
"Seale it!"
Fu Shaoping bled from all seven orifices, his body nearly shattering, but he gritted his teeth and poured all his power into the pillar of light without reservation!
Finally, with a deafening roar that shook the heavens and the earth, the crack began to slowly close!
The enormous demonic claw roared in resentment, tearing wildly, but the power of the Primordial Contract was like the strongest chain, firmly binding the edge of the crack.
One zhang... five zhang... ten zhang...
The cracks are getting smaller.
Finally, as the last trace of blood dissipated, the crack closed completely! The dark red clouds returned to calm, and the chilling fluctuations of demonic energy also disappeared.
"boom--"
After losing its magical support, the altar collapsed completely, turning into a pile of ruins.
Fu Shaoping fell from mid-air, kneeling on one knee, panting heavily. He was covered in blood, his breath extremely weak, but his eyes were full of relief.
The seal has been closed again.
The Heavenly Demon was blocked.
He did it.
After a long while, Fu Shaoping slowly stood up, looked at the pile of ruins and the place where Ying Yuan had last disappeared, and murmured:
"The way of contracts lies in balance and protection. You were wrong from the very beginning."
He turned around and walked step by step toward the top of the abyss.
Behind them, the demonic energy of the Ancient Demon Abyss gradually dissipated.
Ahead lies the exit to light.
……
When Fu Shaoping stepped out of the Ancient Demon Abyss, he was greeted by the long-awaited sunshine of the Western Regions.
He squinted at the golden sun, a faint smile on his face.
The century-old feud has finally come to an end.
The Myriad Alliance was completely destroyed, the Heavenly Demon Seal was re-established, and the greatest threat to the cultivation world was eliminated.
And he, Lu Ping, the Contract Master, could finally let go of everything and continue to pursue the endless path of contracts.
He raised his hand and looked at the flowing, profound, and harmonious light of the contract in his palm.
Light and darkness, order and chaos, are both contained within it.
"This is the true way of contracts."
Fu Shaoping took a deep breath, his figure transforming into a streak of light, shooting eastward toward the vast and boundless天地 (heaven and earth).
A new journey has just begun.
The demonic energy of the Ancient Demon Abyss slowly dissipated, and sunlight shone through the hazy dust for the first time into this land that had been cursed for tens of thousands of years.
Fu Shaoping stood on the edge of the abyss, watching the gradually calming demonic mist, but he felt not much joy of victory, only a calm after experiencing vicissitudes.
The Myriad Alliance, the shadow that had haunted him for hundreds of years, was finally completely destroyed.
Yingyuan, the mad leader, ultimately died at the hands of the demon he himself had awakened, becoming the most ironic end to this thousand-year conspiracy.
But Fu Shaoping knew that this was far from over.
Although the Heavenly Demon Seal has closed again, the crack has already opened once. Those greedy beings from beyond the realm have already sensed the presence of this world. They will not give up, and one day they will attempt to descend once more.
And he, as the guardian of the contract, must prepare for that day.
“However, that’s a matter for the future,” Fu Shaoping murmured.
He took out a communication talisman and informed the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion and the five major forces in detail about everything that had happened in the Ancient Demon Abyss.
Half a day later, the first batch of reinforcements arrived.
The Nascent Soul elders of the five major powers—Tianyan Sect, Taixu Sword Palace, Jiuxiao Thunder Palace, Daguangming Temple, and Zaohua Academy—led dozens of Golden Core elites to the edge of the Ancient Demon Abyss in a grand procession.
When they saw the collapsed altar, sensed the lingering terrifying demonic energy, and saw Fu Shaoping's weak yet resolute figure, everyone fell silent. (End of Chapter)