The contract Kong Ye produced was a bit different from what Han Xuhan had originally envisioned. Unlike sentient contracts which followed the customs and designs of the mortal world, the method they were using right now consisted of a large double-headed loop drawn on the ground using some substance he didn't recognize, full of complex, foreign inscriptions inside.

On one end of the loop sat Han Xuhan with Kong Ye, where he had been asked to run an incomplete cycle of qi inside his meridians, according to the Skeletal Monarch manual.

This would be the ethereal connection binding the minions to him in the eye of the contract.

On the opposite end of the loop sat his three minions, each of them letting out a stream of qi downward to the ground where the inscriptions glowed dimly.

The inscriptions reminded Han Xuhan of the law fragments he had seen inside the Holy Land of Laws due to the similarity of their design and purpose. But he couldn't sense any response from them even when his qi came into contact with the loop. Kong Ye refused to elaborate much on the exact nature of the contract, simply describing it as a formal ritual observed under the authority of a higher-level being...which made the whole thing sound so shady that Han Xuhan would have never agreed to take part in it under any other circumstance.

"Disciple Xuhan, drop some blood from your fingertip with this. " Kong Ye passed him a tiny needle with a surface full of microscopic writings.

"Now push the needle at the midpoint of the loop," he instructed after Han Xuhan had dropped a dozen drops of blood. The five of them watched with rapt attention as the blood drops began moving like sentient creatures, attaching themselves to the lines of the inscriptions and spreading across the loop, thinning in concentration and color until the entire eight-shaped loop had been colored by blood...not that it retained the external quality of blood anyway. Now the blood had transformed into a watery fluid of a very light red shade.

"Hmm, this...doesn't quite look like what's written in the instructions," Kong Ye mumbled to himself.

"Oh well, that's why practical experience is always better than theory. Let's do it!"

Waving away the red flag, Kong Ye proceeded to play the role of a conductor, giving out instruction after instruction on how to move their qi, how to manage the timing and cohesion of their moves, and the recitations they needed to utter...

Nearly fifteen minutes later, when all of them except Kong Ye had exhausted their qi reserves, the man finally told them to sit motionlessly and observe the result carefully

"As I've mentioned before, the contract is very simple-

Firstly, On any change of relationship between the three of you and Han Xuhan, you'll need my express, voluntary permission so long as the change in your relationship is enforced by your minions, whether by one or two or by all three of you. Secondly, I alone hold the authority to decide the circumstances under which you are allowed to perform the techniques begotten from my teaching.

Thirdly, I can ask you for a repayment for the teachings I shall provide you with, so long as your master Han Xuhan agrees the repayment is reasonable.

For the last time, do any of you have any questions or objections?"

Zhanxian shook his head, Tun Shi Tian followed and Hai Yin Zhe completely ignored the enquiry because it was fascinated by the glowing inscriptions.

"Right. Then let us proceed..." Kong Ye's qi exploded out of his body and flooded the loops, emitting a pressure far beyond most elders of the Crimson Snow sect. The intensity of his qi in Han Xuhan's perception was nearly enough to block his senses. Through his fuzzy vision, Han Xuhan watched the blood on the floor slowly turn into a murky, grey liquid.

Right after that, Kong Ye's voice entered his ears, unnecessarily clear as if it was a recording he was listening to through a headphone.

"Do you, Han Xuhan, agree to the terms and conditions of the contract inscribed with your blood?"

With a sense of horror, Han Xuhan found three separate images appearing inside his mind, superimposing over each other. Each image consisted of a single line of symbols that he could not recognize but found familiar-

He suddenly realized that the symbols were no longer so foreign to him. He could understand their meaning, and his mind began to read what was written in the overlapping pictures somehow.

They were the 3 conditions Kong Ye had laid out!

The wording in these images was much different from how Kong Ye had stated his terms. Yet he could also sense somehow that these conditions were identical.

"Yes, I agree," he said after a moment of hesitation.

"You must say, yes, I do, disciple."

"...Yes, I do."

"Not sincere enough! Say it again!"

"YES! I DO!"

"Put some emotion in it, Xuhan!"

Brought to tears from attempting to sound emotional, Han Xuhan sobbed, "Oh yes, I do! Heavens know I do! I agree so hard! "

Satisfied, Kong Ye turned towards the minions and repeated his enquiry towards them.

"Fuck Yes! I do! I do with all of my heart!" Zhanxian said, wailing sorrowfully.

"I do! I bet my dao foundation on it!" Shouted Tun Shi Tian heroically.

". . ."

"Little Zhe, stop licking the floor and answer the teacher!"

"Slurp... Slurp... Uhwa... I shoo!"

"And I, Kong Ye, agree as well! Let this contract be validated and made binding under @%# π¶|& ¥€&% !"

The last part of Kong Ye's sentence somehow escaped Han Xuhan's perception, clearly hears yet too vague to be registered in his mind somehow...

For a brief second, he saw a white rope binding all five of them together, produced by the midpoint of the loop.

And then the pressure, the mental images, the glowing inscriptions, all of it disappeared.

* * * *

Wherever the sea of stars has stretched to, it is considered a part of the huge matrix that humans call 'space'. It is the carrier and nurturer of their lives, their countless civilizations.

But 'space' is not the only matrix where a being may exist. And in one such 'territory' of existence beyond the reaches of space, reality was under mutilation by the 'will' which it sustained.

The laws that regulated this territory were in absolute disarray. Matter, light, qi, force, all existing components of this domain constantly erupted into activities that could essentially end all life inside the macrocosms of man if such development took place there.

At the heart of this domain was a single indescribable entity. Its existence was not static, fading in and out of reality chaotically.

At this exact moment, the entity displayed a humanoid form to interact with reality. The face of the human body belonged to a middle-aged woman, currently twisted due to emotions that could be deemed as 'shock'.

The look of shock morphed further into a mask of outright terror as time passed. The source of its horror, it seemed, was the '8' shaped loop that floated in front of the being, encased within a four-dimensional border, detached from the unnatural changes happening inside the creature's domain.

Inside the loop, three colors shone brightly from five dots. Three of the dots were black, shining from one end of the loop. The two other dots were at the opposite end, one white, one crimson.

The loop itself was a colorless, transparent item. And that was the problem.

"No no no no....this blood bond, how can it be unrecognized? If it was not registered by a mere error of the current authority, that would still be plausible...but this 'thing' is accompanying my agent. And that colorlessness...it can't be a coincidence, never!"

Pausing for a second, the humanoid silhouette brought a metal card from seemingly out of nowhere.

Unintelligible sounds began to emit throughout the domain as the card began vibrating and expanding in size, creating a giant wall in front of the silhouette.

"System, show me all the data processed since my last concealment. Even the most insignificant numerics must not be excluded."

The metal wall lit up with millions of symbols whizzing in and out of the screen at a speed beyond human perception. The silhouette watched with rapt attention as an unimaginable amount of data poured out from the device.

"...Ancestry cannot be determined? Bloodline cannot be detected? Deteriorating physique?"

A long time passed while the creature picked up certain data from the records, one by one, and created a profile of a human being in front of her.

This profile consisted of a three-dimensional picture of a young man in his late teens, several diagrams circling him, several lines of text floating alongside the diagrams.

"Who could this be...? Just who can fool the heaven's eyes for so long?"

Half a second later, the entire domain trembled, shattering its connection with the macrocosm of man, scattering away the spatial pocket that had carried the projection of the loop.

One echo was left resounding throughout the minor world, a shout of sheer disbelief, rage and awe-

"Lord Crimsontide has escaped! How? When ?!"