What Happened to the Stone Demon?

After getting dressed, he left the room and descended the wooden stairs. In that short time, Auntie Bonis had already prepared a parchment agreement and was holding a quill, smiling at him.

"You just need to sign a name here—real or fake, it doesn't matter. Of course, you'll also have to drip a drop of blood. But before that, I'd like to see if Goldtooth is in your hands?" Bonis said.

He lightly touched his pocket, found the gold tooth among a pile of silver coins and gems, took it out, and opened his palm. Seeing the gold tooth, Bonis couldn't hide her delight, looking extremely excited, but she restrained herself and gestured for Li Shaolin to sign the agreement.

All these contracts and covenants use blood as proof? No wonder it doesn't matter if the name is real or not—this is seriously unsettling, Li Shaolin thought to himself. He gave it a quick glance and saw no issues; it was written in Common, which read to him like Chinese characters without any trouble understanding. This must be the translation effect from his transmigration. Without hesitation, he took the quill, putting on the air of a third-rate college student, and scribbled wildly, intending to craft a perfect artistic signature. But his hand slipped, splattering several large ink drops onto the parchment, which rustled as it turned into chicken scratch. It turned out he'd only ever used fountain pens before and had no experience with legendary items like quills. His grip was wrong, so naturally, he couldn't write well.

Seeing the three crooked characters on the page, Li Shaolin felt his face flush with embarrassment. Bonis chuckled softly and pulled out a small knife: "Dear Lin, you just need to drip a little blood onto your name, and it'll be perfect."

"Um... doesn't your family need someone else to witness this?"

"Of course, I have full authority over this family right now." Bonis handed him the knife.

Damn it, looks like I'm going to have to hurt myself today. Li Shaolin stared at the gleaming knife, feeling a bit nervous. But with the mature young woman Bonis watching from the side, he couldn't afford to lose his manly pride. Gritting his teeth, he slashed the tip of his finger. A bead of blood formed and dripped onto his signature. The contract emitted a faint white light, and the text on it turned from gray to pitch black—it seemed the agreement was sealed. Bonis gently split it apart, like unraveling silk from a cocoon, somehow turning the intact parchment into three copies—how miraculous! She handed one to Li Shaolin and said with a smile, "We're family now. Let's have breakfast, send one copy to Sheriff Duhan, and then you can give me the gold tooth."

Breakfast was pumpkin pie—soft and fluffy, sweet in the mouth. With the beautiful young woman Bonis accompanying him, and the old grandmother and the family girl absent, the meal was quite pleasant. Just as he finished eating, he heard the neighing of horses outside. It seemed they were really eager to get that gold tooth. What secret could be hidden in it? Li Shaolin couldn't help but wonder.

The clatter of hooves sounded as they set off for Goldshire. Riding in the same carriage as Bonis, the mature woman's body fragrance wafted into his nose, and her soft, delicate body occasionally leaned against Li Shaolin, making him quite uncomfortable. The dream from last night, so full of charm, suddenly surfaced in his mind, naturally triggering a certain physical reaction. Bonis smiled at him, pretending not to notice, but deliberately leaned in closer, causing Li Shaolin to silently groan in distress.

"Deliberately teasing me, huh. Careful, I might lose it and do something out of line." Though he thought about doing something, he didn't have the guts—how frustrating.

A horse's whinny sounded, and Goldshire had finally arrived. He quickly jumped out of the carriage—it was almost too much to bear. If he'd stayed any longer, he might have really snapped.

Ahead, in the center of Goldshire, a large stone building stood prominently. Bonis smiled and beckoned Li Shaolin inside, her eyes shimmering with spring.

Inside, a knight in full silver-white armor was reading the agreement, while Li Shaolin was secretly astonished. He'd just used Detection and saw that this so-called sheriff was a level 25 Paladin—way too overpowered. He could probably crush Li Shaolin with a single move, so he kept himself in line.

Duhan finished reading and said, "Alright, I'll report this to Stormwind City as is. Welcome to Goldshire, Li Shaolin. Now, do you both have the deed to Fargodeep Mine and the gold tooth?"

Li Shaolin and Bonis nodded, each pulling out their items. Duhan took the deed, retrieved a thick book from the file cabinet behind him, wrote something in it, then stamped the deed with a seal, seemingly reissuing it. He handed it to Li Shaolin and gave the gold tooth to Bonis.

Bonis took the gold tooth and said with a smile, "Sheriff, you go ahead with your work. Lin, do you need to come with me to the farm?"

Li Shaolin shook his head. Bonis seemed in a hurry, apologized briefly, and turned to leave with the gold tooth, apparently rushing back to the farm.

Stepping out of the Town Hall, he looked at the deed in his hand as if in a dream. I never thought I'd become a landowner, Li Shaolin thought, almost wanting to laugh at the sky. Reading the deed, he realized Duhan held both the town and sheriff positions—quite impressive. But he seemed like an upright person who wouldn't cause him trouble.

He found the Lion's Pride Inn, where light music drifted out. Remembering the signature Lion's Black Beer, he quickly walked in.

It was already noon. Various adventurers were inside, some drinking, some chatting—a lively scene.

Just as he entered the inn, intending to find a server for some food, a deep voice called out: "Shaolin? You're still alive?" Damn it, who's cursing me to die? He turned around and saw Jack, Moni, and Mogaban sitting at a table eating. Jack's face was full of surprise, as if he couldn't believe Li Shaolin was still alive.

"Jack! When did you guys get back?" Li Shaolin was also overjoyed. After the massacre at Fargodeep Mine, no one was left alive. He thought Jack and the others had died in there too, but here they were. Jack was an honest, kind person who had treated him well, so seeing him safe was a relief.

"After you got separated from us, the group was surrounded by a bunch of Kobolds. We pulled out of the mine, and since we'd completed the quest conditions, Biter said they wanted to go back in to mine some ore veins, so the three of us came back first. What about you? How did you get out?" Jack pulled Li Shaolin over to sit down, poured him a drink, and asked.

"Me? That's a long story." He took a sip of wine and was about to gloss over it when suddenly a shout rang out in the inn: "Oh no! Fargodeep Mine is haunted! Fargodeep Mine is haunted!" A young man of about seventeen or eighteen was yelling loudly.

"Haunted my ass! Tell us what happened. Have a drink—I'm buying." The bald William Pister, who had issued the candle quest, said, handing over a mug of Lion's Black Beer.

The young man took a big gulp, caught his breath, and said, "This morning, I followed an adventurer group to Fargodeep Mine to get some gold sand to sell. But when we got outside the mine, there wasn't a single Kobold in sight. I thought they were all asleep or something, but when we went inside, there wasn't even a ghost. Tell me that's not haunted!"

William Pister asked, "What about the other adventurers?"

The young man scratched his head sheepishly and said, "They went inside. I came back alone."

"So you're a coward." The group that had been listening intently sneered at him. The young man looked a bit embarrassed but still insisted, "If you don't believe me, go see for yourselves. I'm not lying."

Jack thought for a moment and said, "That's not right. There's no way there wouldn't be Kobolds on the outer perimeter. What happened?"

Li Shaolin was also puzzled: Wasn't the mine entrance covered in Kobold corpses? How could there be nothing? Did I see things last night? No way.

Jack continued, "Shaolin, we're heading to Eastvale Logging Camp soon to help them deal with the Defias Brotherhood. Want to come with us?"

Li Shaolin shook his head. "I've got some things to do. You go ahead. I'll find you when I have time."

"Alright, come find us then. Cheers." Jack raised his glass and clinked it with his.

After saying goodbye to Jack and the others, Li Shaolin went alone to the Blacksmith. He had gotten two green gems from Goldtooth's treasure chest earlier. He suspected they were Malachite but had never shown them to anyone, so he wasn't sure. He decided to ask the blacksmith if he wanted them—might as well sell them off instead of letting them take up space.

The blacksmith took the gems, looked them over, and said, "Malachite. If you want to sell them, you can go to the Jewelry Shop or the Auction House in Stormwind City—they'll give you a better price. Of course, we'll take them too, but only one gold coin per gem."

"Fine, deal!" He took two gleaming gold coins and walked out of the blacksmith.

By noon, a light rain had started to fall, shrouding everything in mist. Seeing there wasn't much he could do, he returned to the Lion's Pride Inn to take an afternoon nap.

Lying in bed, he opened the Book of the Dead and carefully studied the skills. Glancing over, he noticed the text under Clay Golem had changed: a gold "1/1" with a white "0/1" below it. What's going on? Golems can only summon one, so why are there two indicator slots? Meanwhile, under Skeleton Warrior, there were still two white "2/2" indicators—two Skeleton Warriors stored inside.

Could it be that the golem he lost was still alive? No way? But then it couldn't have turned gold. Unable to figure it out, he let it go and drifted off to sleep.

Half-asleep, he felt someone knocking. Blinking his groggy eyes open, a familiar mature fragrance hit him. Bonis Stonefield stood smiling at the door, saying with a hint of reproach, "Lin, you sure are lucky!"