Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 84 - Binding the Spirit Contract

For Dugu Zhuo, dungeons are places that can only be accessed once a certain level is reached, with limited entry and the chance to obtain experience (equivalent to cultivating true essence), spirit stones, money, magical artifacts, and other items. How different is this from the secret realms in the cultivation world?

Cultivating, treasure hunting, and developing relationships in dangerous environments are quite normal in secret realms, Dugu Zhuo thought.

He was a person of strong initiative, so once the dungeon location was confirmed, he prepared to take the White Tiger and Ye Zhou to explore it.

The White Tiger itself was a dungeon boss. If the sect were established, it might have the role of the mountain guardian deity and could leave the dungeon. But since the sect was not yet established, Dugu Zhuo could not take the White Tiger into the new dungeon.

However, the White Tiger was crucial for the refining of magical artifacts.

Dugu Zhuo could only ask the White Tiger: “Are you willing to enter into a spirit contract with me? I’ll take you out of the mountain and dissolve the contract once the sect is established.”

A spirit contract is a pact made between cultivators and comes in two forms. One is a master-servant form, where one party is the master and the other the servant, who must obey the master completely without any resistance. This form is generally used to punish evil cultivators who are not guilty of death, often for self-discipline and moral reform.

Of course, this is the ideal use; there are also cultivators who use spirit contracts to control others or enslave various races, including demons, spirits, and ghosts.

The righteous sects are dedicated to purging such cultivators from the cultivation world, but unfortunately, no matter the era, there are always those who disregard rules and laws. Of course, their sins will eventually be punished by the heavenly tribulation.

The other form is an equal spirit contract where both parties have mutual needs. For example, if a demon or spirit cultivator needs help to fend off a tribulation or is rescued from danger, they would enter into an equal spirit contract to assist each other. Such contracts can be dissolved by either party at any time and are a win-win arrangement.

Dugu Zhuo intended to make the latter type of contract with the White Tiger. However, the White Tiger turned its head and said, “I have no need for you and cannot enter into a spirit contract.”

Then it walked up to Ye Zhou, raised a small paw, and said, “I have decided to enter into a spirit contract with you. Once I have repaid the favor, the contract will be dissolved.”

Watching the scene, Ye Zhou thought: “……”

What favor did he owe the little tiger?

Seeing that the White Tiger was about to slip up, Dugu Zhuo gave it a glance, and the White Tiger immediately patted the protective jade hanging on its chest.

Ye Zhou remembered that during the dungeon run, he did help stabilize the White Tiger’s internal demonic energy and gave it the protective jade. But Dugu Zhuo and other players also helped, and they gained experience and benefited from the tribulation. Even if there was a life-saving grace, it was already repaid.

Although puzzled, seeing the little tiger extend its paw, Ye Zhou felt he couldn’t refuse the spirit contract request.

Ye Zhou reached out and tapped the tiger’s paw, asking, “Is this how it’s done?”

“Of course not. You need to draw a drop of blood from the tip of your middle finger, and I’ll draw a drop as well. Then… never mind, you wouldn’t know how. I’ll handle it,” the White Tiger said.

The White Tiger was brought to this world by Ye Zhou. Since Ye Zhou had saved it, the White Tiger felt it needed to repay him. Otherwise, it might face retribution in future karma cycles.

Ye Zhou carefully made a small cut on his finger with a sword; it was quite painful.

The White Tiger then produced a drop of blood from somewhere, muttering incantations Ye Zhou didn’t understand. A golden light appeared, and the two drops of blood vanished into the air, forming a symbol-like mark that split into two, embedding itself into the foreheads of the White Tiger and Ye Zhou, disappearing from sight.

After the spirit contract was established, Ye Zhou vaguely felt he could command the White Tiger to do some things, as long as it wasn’t excessive, the White Tiger would agree.

The White Tiger glanced at Ye Jian: “Roar! Two copies, one for me and one for Ye Zhou. The contract is binding and cannot be destroyed.”

Ye Jian: “……”

Is this a grudge against the land contract? This game NPC’s autonomy is absurdly high. His recently bought robot nanny isn’t this advanced!

Ye Jian moved closer to Dugu Zhuo and sent a private message: “Is the White Tiger really not a player in disguise?”

With players suddenly buying scrolls to become mosaic demon cultivators, cousins and Dugu Zhuo playing NPCs, and players becoming dungeon bosses, it seemed anything could happen in this game.

Dugu Zhuo didn’t answer his question and let Ye Jian speculate. Instead, he said, “The level 40 dungeon has a higher difficulty. With Ye Zhou and me refining magical artifacts, it will be difficult enough to protect ourselves, let alone take care of you.”

Ye Jian: “……”

Don’t think he doesn’t know that Dugu Zhuo is trying to shake him off. Is he that easy to get rid of?

While Ye Zhou was establishing the spirit contract with the White Tiger, the system suddenly issued an announcement: “Congratulations to player Ye Zhou for capturing the demon spirit White Tiger and obtaining a powerful summon beast. The game has opened the summon beast system. Any race can become another’s summon beast. A player can only enter into a spirit contract with one summon beast at a time. Go find a summon beast that is fated to be with you!

“PS: This game only offers equal contracts. If you treat your summon beast poorly, it can dissolve the contract on its own. Please be kind to your summon beast~”

The three of them had not expected that just establishing a spirit contract would trigger a new game feature.

Ye Zhou and Ye Jian immediately opened the world channel to observe the players’ reactions.

“Breaking news! This first isn’t Dugu Zhuo’s; finally, there’s a first that has nothing to do with him!”

“Don’t deify Dugu Zhuo. He’s just lucky; many dungeon first kills weren’t his. Even the second main storyline family hasn’t been found yet!”

“Although, Ye Zhou seems to be Dugu Zhuo’s friend. They’ve played games together for a long time and even achieved a six-person dungeon first kill together. This summon beast feature might be related to Dugu Zhuo.”

“Can we not mention Dugu Zhuo? Look at this feature! I’ve read the system announcement several times. Does it mean any race can become a summon beast? Can humans be summon beasts too?”

“What’s wrong? Is the human race so noble that other races can’t have a well-behaved little human as a summon beast?”

“Of course, it’s possible, but it’s an equal contract. If you don’t behave, your little human can be kicked out anytime.”

“Wow, any race can become a summon beast. This means that even among the same race, a summon beast can be from players, bosses, NPCs, or minor monsters. Given how this game works, I have enough reason to suspect that players can also become other players’ summon beasts.”

“To the one who thinks players can be summon beasts, you have some interesting ideas and clearly have been seriously scammed by the game.”

“Is this kind of inhumane gameplay really allowed?”

“How is it inhumane? Look at the vast groups of demons, spirits, ghosts, and fiends—aren’t they all players? Do we look human?”

“If becoming a summon beast means letting the spirit race grow up, then I’m in. I’m fed up with this three-and-a-half-year-old short leg!”

“Think about it—if every member of a team has a summon beast, and those summon beasts are players, a six-person team could become a twelve-person team. Wouldn’t that make dungeons easier?”

“There must be a limit on numbers, or the dungeon difficulty will increase. The game wouldn’t let players exploit this kind of loophole.”

As the world channel buzzed with discussions about the new gameplay feature, the little White Tiger, now only the size of a palm, jumped onto Ye Zhou’s collar, peeking outside.

Completely unaware of the upheaval caused by the spirit contract, the White Tiger said, “Let’s go find some ground fire to refine the magical artifact.”

“A bit cute!” Ye Jian thought, seeing the little White Tiger, and quickly messaged the Black Cat: “Would you be willing to be my summon beast, in beast form only?”

Black Cat: “Go away!”

Ye Jian stopped the departing White Tiger and asked, “How can I establish an equal spirit contract?”

The White Tiger replied, “First, you need to have a karmic connection with the other person, such as owing them a debt of gratitude that must be repaid. Once this karmic link is established, you need to use a drop of blood from the tip of your middle finger, recite the incantation, and channel your true essence to form the contract.”

Ye Jian: “Do I look like someone who cultivates immortality? What’s an incantation? How do you channel true essence?”

Dugu Zhuo immediately drew a symbol and handed it to Ye Jian: “I know you wouldn’t know. This is a simple spirit contract talisman. Just click to use it.”

Seeing Dugu Zhuo and Ye Zhou’s expressions of “We’re going to the dungeon without you,” Ye Jian thought for a moment and said, “Don’t rush off. I’ll test this talisman. If it works, it can be mass-produced and sold in the spirit stone shop. I’m sure many players would want to buy it. Our sect will need a lot of spirit stones in the future, right? The White Tiger’s spirit jade probably needs to be bought with money, too. Refining magical artifacts can make hundreds of spirit stones a minute, so we need to act fast.”

Dugu Zhuo was persuaded by Ye Jian’s reasoning and temporarily set aside the idea of ditching him. He took Ye Jian to the foot of Tiger Roar Mountain.

There, a person was already waiting—Liu Shu Yao Yi Meng Xiao Yao, whom Ye Jian had brought.

Seeing Yi Meng Xiao Yao, Ye Jian immediately transferred 100,000 low-grade spirit stones.

Yi Meng Xiao Yao: “!!! Why are you suddenly giving me so much money?”

Although Yi Meng Xiao Yao was an experienced player, he wasn’t a rich player and had become a high-level player through hard work, often taking side jobs to earn extra money in the game.

“I want to hire you to protect me for a while. Is this enough?” Ye Jian asked.

Yi Meng Xiao Yao: “This amount is more than enough to keep me protecting you. You’re the boss as long as you’re paying. However, since I also need to play the game myself, I can’t be with you all the time. How about we agree on a specific time?”

Ye Jian: “I checked with the game merchants; they earn around four to five thousand a month. With this ten thousand, I can hire you to protect me for two months. During these two months, when I want to go through dungeons or fight monsters, you need to be my meat shield. Of course, if you’re in a dungeon or offline, I can wait. I’m not a PvP player, so there’s no combat arena in our agreement.”

“No problem! Boss!” Yi Meng Xiao Yao immediately agreed.

“Use this talisman,” Ye Jian said, taking out the spirit contract talisman and clicking “Use,” “You just need to click ‘Agree.’”

Yi Meng Xiao Yao, unsuspecting, agreed, and immediately received a system prompt: “Ding! You have become the summon beast of player Yang Fan￥Voyage. According to the contract, you cannot voluntarily dissolve the contract for two months. After two months, you may dissolve it on your own.”

Yi Meng Xiao Yao: “……”

What is this?

Ye Jian smugly waved his fan: “It works!”

“The summon beast system announced earlier was really set up by you? Players can become other players’ summon beasts? No, I don’t want to be a summon beast!” Yi Meng Xiao Yao exclaimed.

“It’s just protecting me through dungeons. If you do well, there’s a bonus.” Ye Jian said.

“Okay, boss.” Yi Meng Xiao Yao, despite his reluctance, was unable to resist upon hearing the word “bonus.”

After securing Yi Meng Xiao Yao, Ye Jian asked Dugu Zhuo: “This talisman works well. Can you mass-produce it?”

Dugu Zhuo said, “Drawing spirit contract talismans consumes true essence and mental energy. I can only draw about a hundred a day.”

“That’s enough,” Ye Jian said decisively. “The game will definitely have other ways to sign contracts, but players won’t figure them out immediately. We need to make money while they haven’t caught on.”

“Then I’ll go refine magical artifacts first. I’ll draw more talismans for you when I have time.” Dugu Zhuo grabbed Ye Zhou and was about to leave.

“Wait!” Ye Jian stopped Dugu Zhuo and pointed at Yi Meng Xiao Yao, “I’m now a combatant, a summoner. Take me through the dungeon. I don’t need you to protect me; my summon beast can protect me.”

Dugu Zhuo and Ye Zhou: “……”

How many people has Ye Jian tricked with this? Truly a genius!