A Marriage Contract

Flew on a magic artifact!

Those four words represented an unreachable realm in the hearts of all the Chore Disciples.

They meant that the person coming was at least a Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator!

To them, someone like that was no different from an immortal in the heavens. They hardly ever had a chance to see one.

And yet now, this Inner Sect senior brother, who seemed like an immortal, was rummaging frantically through the very trash heap they despised and feared most, like a madman.

The bizarre sight left every Chore Disciple too afraid to even draw a deep breath.

They kept their distance, afraid that this clearly unstable senior brother might lose his temper and take it out on insignificant ants like them.

That man was obviously searching for some precious item he had accidentally lost.

This left many of them wondering: what kind of treasure could make a Foundation Establishment expert lose control like this?

Could it be a powerful Magic Treasure, or a rare pill?

Zhou Xuan stood at the edge of the crowd, already harboring a vague suspicion.

Was this senior brother looking for that piece of Green Copper?

The thought flashed through his mind, but Zhou Xuan quickly decided it was unlikely.

No one knew what the thing was. Even the system didn't know!

Watching the senior brother grow more and more frantic, even using spiritual power to toss great swaths of trash into the air as if he wouldn't stop until he found what he was looking for, Zhou Xuan thought it over and decided to do something.

Risk and opportunity went hand in hand.

If he could forge a good relationship with an Inner Sect Disciple at the Foundation Establishment Realm, it would bring immense benefits to his future prospects.

Besides, the other man was clearly anxious and helpless. Offering him a little help at a moment like this would often have the greatest effect.

With that in mind, Zhou Xuan took a deep breath, straightened his fairly clean Servant Robe, and stepped out of the crowd. He cautiously approached the Inner Sect Disciple.

His actions immediately drew startled looks from the surrounding Chore Disciples.

"Has Zhou Xuan gone crazy? He dares to walk up to him?"

"Does he have a death wish? If he angers that senior brother, he could blow him away with a single breath!"

Zhou Xuan ignored the murmuring behind him. He stopped at a relatively safe distance and respectfully bowed to the disciple, who was still searching frantically.

"Senior brother, please calm down."

His voice wasn't loud, but in the silence it sounded especially clear.

The Inner Sect Disciple paused, then whipped around. His bloodshot eyes fixed on Zhou Xuan, and the anxiety and pressure in his gaze made Zhou Xuan's heart skip a beat.

Zhou Xuan forced himself to withstand the pressure and continued, "Senior brother, this Miscellaneous Affairs Department is a filthy place belonging to the Sect. The Scrap is full of toxins, and some of the Waste Pills and discarded artifacts are unstable. They could explode at any moment. It's far too dangerous for you to search this way."

Perhaps Zhou Xuan's respectful manner, or perhaps the concern in his words, helped. The frenzied look in the Inner Sect Disciple's eyes eased a little.

He panted, his handsome face full of dejection.

He seemed like a fairly approachable person.

"I have something very important. I accidentally threw it away with the trash, and it ended up here."

His voice was hoarse, and his words were full of regret.

Zhou Xuan's heart stirred. He asked tentatively, "What did you lose, senior brother? Could you describe it? We Chore Disciples work here year-round and know the place well. Maybe... maybe we can keep an eye out for it."

A glimmer of hope flashed in the disciple's eyes, but it quickly faded.

He shook his head with a bitter smile. "It's no use. That thing has not the slightest trace of spiritual energy. It's just an ordinary object. Finding it in this Trash Mountain would be like fishing a needle out of the sea."

Hearing the words "not the slightest trace of spiritual energy," Zhou Xuan finally relaxed.

As long as it wasn't that piece of Green Copper!

In that case, he could try to offer this favor.

"Please, senior brother, tell me. The more people who know about it, the better the chances, wouldn't you agree?" Zhou Xuan pressed.

The disciple fell silent for a moment, seemingly moved by Zhou Xuan's sincerity.

He sighed and slowly described it. "It's a Marriage Contract, made from a very thin piece of copper. It has my name and my fiancée's engraved on it, along with our birth dates."

A copper Marriage Contract?

Zhou Xuan was taken aback. He had never heard of such a thing.

The disciple seemed to have opened the floodgates. His eyes grew distant as he sank into memories from long ago.

"My name is Zhao Zhen. Seven years ago, I was just an ordinary person in the mortal world. My family ran a small blacksmith's shop."

"Back then, I was engaged to a girl from the neighboring village. Both our families were pleased, so we used the scraps left over from our blacksmithing to make the two of us a Copper Marriage Contract, hoping it would last forever."

As he spoke, a tender smile appeared on Zhao Zhen's handsome face, but it soon twisted into pain.

"But a month before we were supposed to marry, disaster struck my family. A fire took everything, and my parents..."

His voice caught, and he couldn't go on.

"I was left homeless, begging from place to place, lost and dazed."

"Later, somehow, I stumbled into the territory of the Spirit Sword Pavilion."

"Fortunately, the elder in charge of recruiting at the mountain gate discovered that I had decent talent and took me in as an Outer Sect Disciple."

"For the past seven years, I've trained with all my might, never daring to slack off. At last, my hard work paid off. I broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm and became an Inner Sect Disciple."

Zhao Zhen spoke, pain and regret nearly spilling from his eyes.

"I thought I'd go down the mountain to find her once my cultivation had stabilized. But yesterday, while sorting through my old belongings, I accidentally mistook the bundle containing the Marriage Contract for trash and threw it away."

"This morning, I was getting ready to leave the mountain when I realized the Marriage Contract was gone. It's the only thing I have that can prove who I am, and the only keepsake between us."

"If I've lost even that, how could I ever face her?"

After hearing Zhao Zhen's story, Zhou Xuan fell silent.

He looked at the Inner Sect senior brother who had seemed untouchable to the Chore Disciples. Now the man looked like a child who had lost his favorite toy, helpless and full of remorse. Zhou Xuan's heart was a jumble of feelings.

He thought of Liu Ruyan.

She, too, had come from the mortal world and gained a chance at immortality.

For the sake of her so-called Great Dao, Liu Ruyan had been able to sever her past without hesitation, treating her childhood sweetheart as a stain that needed to be erased.

But the Zhao Zhen before him treasured and clung to a marriage promise made seven years ago, for the sake of an ordinary woman who might not even still be waiting for him.

Zhou Xuan sighed inwardly.

In the Cultivation World, there were people as cold and heartless as Liu Ruyan, but there were also men as loyal and devoted as senior brother Zhao Zhen.

In the end, he had simply trusted the wrong person.

"Senior brother, there's no need to blame yourself so much," Zhou Xuan said, trying to comfort him.

"Although this place is chaotic, the Scrap is dumped in separate areas. Since you remember throwing it away yesterday, the search area shouldn't be too large."

"Still, the trash is piled up layer upon layer. Finding it right away will be difficult, especially since it's an ordinary object with no spiritual nature and can't be located with divine sense."

As Zhao Zhen listened to Zhou Xuan's clear and orderly reasoning, he gradually calmed down, though despair still weighed heavily on his face.

Zhou Xuan looked at him and spoke earnestly. "Senior brother, you've already waited seven years. A few more days won't matter. Please go back for now. Staying here won't help, and you might even be tainted by poisonous Baleful Intent, which could affect your cultivation."

"I promise that from today onward, I'll have the Chore Disciples here keep a closer eye on this area whenever they handle the Scrap. If we find that Copper Marriage Contract, I'll make sure it gets to you right away."

Zhao Zhen abruptly lifted his head and looked at Zhou Xuan, his eyes full of gratitude.

He was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, yet he had lost his composure so badly that a Body Tempering Chore Disciple had seen things more clearly than he had.

"Thank you, junior brother!"

Zhao Zhen gave Zhou Xuan a solemn cupped-fist salute.

Zhou Xuan hurriedly stepped aside. "You're too kind, senior brother. It was nothing."

Zhao Zhen took a Command Token from his robes and handed it to Zhou Xuan. "My name is Zhao Zhen. I live at Cave Abode Nine in Ding Camp on Red Sword Peak. If you hear anything, you can use this Command Token to come find me."

Red Sword Peak...

Zhou Xuan took the Command Token and silently repeated the name to himself.

He only knew the rough outline of the Sect's structure.

Aside from the special peaks dedicated to alchemy, artifact forging, formations, and talismans, as well as the administrative peak where Deacon Hall was located, the Spirit Sword Pavilion's true Cultivators were mainly concentrated on seven Main Peaks.

These seven Main Peaks were named for the seven colors of the rainbow, corresponding to the seven common spiritual attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, lightning, and thunder.

Red was fire, orange was metal, yellow was earth, green was wood, cyan was water, blue was lightning, and purple was thunder.

Red Sword Peak, where Zhao Zhen lived, was clearly where fire-attribute Cultivators gathered.

Above the seven Main Peaks stood an even more central and mysterious mountain, called Heaven Sword Peak.

That was where the Sect Master and the Supreme Elders secluded themselves to cultivate. It was the seat of power for the entire Spirit Sword Pavilion.

After thanking Zhou Xuan several more times, Zhao Zhen summoned his Flying Sword once more. Carrying his worries and a trace of hope, he turned into a streak of light and flew toward the Inner Sect.

Only after watching him disappear into the distance did the Chore Disciples dare to come closer. They stared at Zhou Xuan as if he were some kind of monster.

"Zhou Xuan, you're way too bold!"

"Yeah! You even took an Inner Sect senior brother's Command Token!"

Zhou Xuan ignored their astonishment and tucked the heavy Command Token into his robes.

He glanced down at the Trash Mountain Zhao Zhen had turned upside down. The corner of his mouth lifted in an almost imperceptible smile.

A friend in the Inner Sect?

Perhaps.

Whether he could forge this connection depended on whether he could find that seven-year-old Marriage Contract in the Trash Mountain!