Duosheng Danyuan

—Blood Contract—

Article 1: Regarding Semen and Blood

Essence and blood are the foundation of life. Essence and blood do not refer to the bloodstains that can be seen everywhere after the body is cut open, but rather to the essence of blood that has been refined by the cultivator's life force and carries the foundation of innate spiritual power.

Therefore, all essence and blood are related to lifespan; any loss or damage will inevitably shorten lifespan.

The amount of essence and blood is not related to one's cultivation level, but rather to the length of one's lifespan.

Article 2: Regarding Transactions

The questioner pays the immortal a drop of blood essence as payment for answering the question, and the satisfaction of the answer is determined by the "Blood Essence Contract". The "Blood Essence Contract" is an independent third-party contract, which is not biased by the individual will of either the questioner or the immortal in the contract, but is judged solely by the logic of the contract itself.

The cost of this support contract will be borne by the undead who invokes the "Blood Contract".

As for the delivery of essence and blood, the immortals can absorb it themselves.

Article 3: Relevant Impacts

For cultivators, essence blood is a non-renewable and inherent asset; once used, it is gone. Although a cultivator will not die even if their essence blood is exhausted, they will suffer a considerable loss of cultivation.

The specific impact of remaining essence and blood on cultivators requires further research to answer. This contract merely serves as a fair and benevolent explanation from a neutral third party.

——Divider——

Looking at the "Blood Contract" that suddenly appeared on the wall, I couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Before I could think too much, "Su Wanqing" spoke again: "Do you understand? My actions just now were not an attack on you, but to sign a 'blood essence contract' with you, nothing more. Stop looking towards the window, the contract is rolled up here."

As he spoke, "Su Wanqing" took out a piece of paper from his pocket, on which the words were exactly the same as the message on the wall.

"This piece of paper..." Looking at the somewhat familiar roll of paper in front of me, I tried to run my fingers over it.

Sure enough, it was the same parchment scroll as when the caterpillar was in seclusion.

"What do you mean you signed a 'blood essence contract' with Gu Changfeng? Has the contract already taken effect?" Lin Xu's gaze swept back and forth between the window and "Su Wanqing" before he finally spoke in a deep voice.

"Yes, it's in effect." Su Wanqing admitted readily. "This is what we agreed on, right? I've checked several times to make sure you agree to my request. This is the Shengdan Academy, and everyone is responsible for their words and actions. Don't give me any of that worthless nonsense like 'Oh, I was just kidding.' The contract is in effect, and we can only abide by it."

"In the end, wasn't this contract something you forced me to sign?" Lin Xu said unhappily.

"Hmm." Su Wanqing grinned noncommittally.

"What are you humming about, you monster..."

"I understand," I nodded to "Su Wanqing" after reading the information on the parchment scroll, and then said, "We can begin now, right?"

"Of course, I can answer any question you ask at any time, as long as I know the answer."

"Okay, please."

"Please? Please what?"

"Are you playing dumb?" I laughed. "We agreed that your self-introduction was also part of the voluntary question-and-answer session, which should be free, right? Are you trying to get away with this?"

"I just forgot." Shaking her head, Su Wanqing continued, "Since you want to hear about this, then I will tell you."

"I'm all ears."

"As stated in the 'Blood Contract,' I am an immortal. As an immortal, I am naturally immortal. But everything comes at a price. To obtain the supreme ability of 'immortality,' which countless people dream of, the price I paid is so high that no adjective can adequately describe it. Every record about immortals that you will see in the Ancient Alchemy Pavilion in the future may just be a small part of my story on the road to paying the price, nothing more."

"An undead...so that's why you're a skeleton?"

"Um."

"Then what do you mean by saying that your current identity is Su Wanqing?"

"This is part of the price." The undead grinned, and somehow, her bitter smile held a touch of human sincerity. "What do you think death truly means?"

"..." Faced with this sudden and profound question, Lin Xu did not speak, but only glanced at me.

Upon hearing this question, my eyes lit up instantly. Suppressing my inner joy, I tried hard to hold back a smile and said, "Living is built upon the perception of others. The more three-dimensional your image is in the eyes of others, the more complete your existence is. Death, in my eyes, is a freeze-frame of the impression in the memories of others, and also a freeze-frame of my own life."

"Whoa..." My answer clearly surprised the undead in front of me. We stared at each other for a long time before she sighed and said with a wry smile, "According to your theory, you will definitely not become an undead."

"Of course," I nodded.

"However, your view is merely a derivative of death, not its essence." Changing her tone, the immortal regained her expressionless demeanor and said calmly, "No matter how eloquent the words, no matter how lofty the faith used to commemorate it, death is death. It represents only one thing: the complete annihilation of life consciousness."

"I agree, but it doesn't conflict with my own thoughts," I said calmly.

"Of course, after all, one is the essence and the other is a derivative." The Undead nodded and continued, "Do you remember what I just told you? The essence of sound is the vibration of a medium. By capturing the subtle vibrations between the mediums, we can capture your whispers; conversely, as long as we can extinguish this vibration in the medium, no matter how loudly I make my actions, you won't hear anything."

"So what?" Lin Xu said impatiently.

"Heh heh, death is the same." The immortal glanced at Lin Xu and continued, "The essence of death is the dissipation of consciousness. Maintaining consciousness can resist death to some extent; however, this resistance has its limits, because there are no immortal treasures or elixirs in the immortal realm that can allow me to maintain my consciousness forever. So, what if we do the opposite? Instead of resisting the dissipation of consciousness, what if we actively let our consciousness be extracted? The result is that I am like this now."

"This is how you look now? You mean the skeleton form, or the one who lives off someone else's identity?" I said.

"Yes, all of them. I gave up my former identity and took the first step in resisting the dissipation of consciousness—by not actively generating consciousness."

"Not generating consciousness? Nonsense. Don't tell me you're going to look like Su Wanqing did. That's impossible," Lin Xu said, frowning.

"Note that I said not actively generating consciousness, not that consciousness doesn't arise, okay? The identities of others are, for me, a platform that allows consciousness to become active. Only by using the identities of others can I generate thoughts based on my own behavioral logic and stance, understand?"

"So, you inherited Su Wanqing's identity and her memories at the same time?" I said.

"Um."

"What kind of price is this?" Lin Xu said with dissatisfaction. "Since your consciousness is still your own, then your memories must also be your own. Since your memories still belong to you, is giving up your identity such an unacceptable price? A person's identity is inherently rich and varied in this life."

"Hmph..." Faced with Lin Xu's sarcasm, the undead was not angered, but instead asked a question, "You, you should have only recently become a cultivator, right? And your years as a mortal are far longer than your years as a cultivator, am I right?"

"So what?"

"As expected, so you don't understand." The Undead shook its head helplessly, glancing at Lin Xu with an almost pitying look before closing its eyes again. It then said, "For a cultivator, identity is not merely an identity, but a symbol of fortune and calamity. I abandoned my identity, relinquishing everything about my past as a cultivator. Naturally, I also severed ties with the fortune of the Heavenly Dao. But to prolong my consciousness, I have to inherit the identities of those cultivators who still submit to the Heavenly Dao. In this process, I will not enjoy the fortune of those cultivators whose identities I borrow, but I will inevitably encounter the calamities these identities bring me. Heh heh, isn't that a kind of interest? Borrowing someone else's identity, and then averting their misfortune..."

"What...?" Lin Xu opened his mouth in surprise. Clearly, he had not expected the price of losing his identity to be so high.

"No," I frowned, noticing the flaw in the undead's words. "You said a cultivator's identity symbolizes fortune and calamity, so how could you, by abandoning your identity, only sever your fortune and not your calamity? And how could you, by inheriting someone else's identity, only inherit the calamity and not the fortune? It doesn't make logical sense. Furthermore, there's another problem. You said that bearing someone else's calamity is a kind of interest, a way of averting disaster for them. Okay, I'll believe you for now, but I want to ask, are all the identities you inherited the identities of living people? Impossible, right? If it's the identity of a dead person, wouldn't you be living off someone without any consequences?"

"..." Faced with my questioning, the immortal remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, "What you've asked involves my secrets, and I can't answer them for free. My self-introduction is over. If you want to know more, exchange your life essence for it."

"Tsk." I clicked my tongue in displeasure. "How much essence blood would it take to answer those questions I just asked?"

"Although you asked three questions, they are essentially the same question, so a drop of essence blood will suffice."

"They're actually quite conscientious," I said sarcastically.

"Hehe... Not only am I generous, but I'm also offering a buy-one-get-one-free deal! After you pay me your first drop of semen, I can tell you the amount of semen you have left."

"Is it so that I can spend more of my life essence here?" I directly exposed the undead's intention.

"Heh," the undead sneered.

"Alright, I agree. Here, take a drop of my essence."

"No problem, thank you for your patronage..."

As he spoke, the immortal began to slowly walk towards me.