The Unlucky Demon

"First, I'd like to ask: what was your god's name? I hoped that when I put him on the dissecting table someday, he'd be useful for something rather than merely venting my anger."

"Heretic, did you know what you were saying? Was our god's divine name something you could profane?"

Another mental attack struck, shattering several more pearls in Yang Mu's hand.

"This won't do. Even if I made these props casually, they shouldn't be wasted like this."

"Second-Order Life, tch!"

With a scornful snort, Yang Mu tossed out a fiery-red statue. The moment it landed, it began to melt, and a complex magic array appeared on the ground.

The pungent scent of sulfur spread through the air. Yang Mu threw a contract into it. Before the contract even fell, the magic array lit up, and a black, scaled arm reached out.

It seized the contract, which rapidly burned in its hand. As the contract burned, a towering demon figure emerged within the magic array.

It stood three meters tall, though somewhat hunched. It had four arms, dense bone spurs covering its back, a serpentine head, a pair of bat wings, and orange-red flames that occasionally flared across its body.

This was a Lower Demon, a Third-Order Life—what many worlds called a Demigod.

The magic array on the ground was a Demon Summoning Array, while the contract contained the price Yang Mu had paid to summon it: the coordinates of a Dark Divine Kingdom whose god had fallen into slumber.

There was also the soul of a peculiar Wizard, one of a kind in all the world—a rare treasure. It might not have been powerful, but it was absolutely the sort of collectible every demon would pursue.

Only such a valuable offering could attract a Lower Demon. Of course, if Yang Mu had not limited the strength of the summoned demon, a Middle Demon might have come instead.

"Mortal, I am satisfied with your offering. What do you need me to do?"

The demon lowered its head to look at Yang Mu, bent down, and pressed its face close to his.

"Could you stay farther away from me? All you demons have bad breath. Didn't you know? This request is simple. Kill them all, then hand their bodies and souls over to me."

"This time?"

The demon looked at Yang Mu in confusion.

"Don't tell me you accepted the contract without reading its contents. Surely not?"

Yang Mu spoke with a half-smile, making no attempt to hide his malice. The coordinates of a Divine Kingdom with a sleeping god, plus a collector-grade soul—such a contract would make demons in the Abyss fight until their heads bled.

Naturally, he knew just how valuable it was. If this demon had shown even the slightest hesitation, it would not have been the one to come; another demon would have arrived instead.

That was why it could not possibly have examined the contract's detailed contents. And a contract written by a Mage proficient in Devil Rune Language, Ancient Elvish, Elemental Language, and tens of thousands of other languages—let alone without time to read it—

Even if it had been given ample time, apart from what Yang Mu wanted it to understand, it would not have been able to read a single word.

Although contract rules prohibited deception, using nonexistent languages in contracts, and many other things, such rules were effectively meaningless to Yang Mu, whose contracts had become so infamous that even Devils refused to accept them. He had plenty of ways to circumvent them.

The VIP membership reading experience has been optimized. Tap the center of the screen to bring up the menu, where you can conveniently select "Settings," "Previous Page," "Next Page," or "Back to Top."

Thus, without the demon knowing, it had signed a contract that was practically a slave contract.

It had to act for Yang Mu unconditionally five times before receiving the coordinates of the Dark Divine Kingdom. Furthermore, only after exploring the Divine Kingdom at those coordinates and sharing every piece of information with Yang Mu, complete and without a single omission, could it obtain Yang Mu's soul.

The deadline was ten years. As long as Yang Mu did not use up all five chances, it would have to wait for ten years.

But after checking the contract rules for the contract's details, the demon was so furious that smoke truly poured from all seven orifices. It even immediately tried to erase Yang Mu.

However, the instant it extended its claw, it felt a tearing pain rip through its soul.

"Oh, it seemed you hadn't read the penalty clauses either. This is a warning. Next time, your soul and everything else will belong to me. I'd advise you to read the penalty clauses carefully."

1. The contractor must not attack the contracted party. Upon any substantive act of aggression, the first offense results in a warning. On the second offense, the contractor's soul, body, Law Crystal, and everything else shall belong to the contracted party.

2. When summoned by the contracted party, the contractor must respond and descend within one breath. For every breath of delay, the contractor must pay the contracted party one Second-Order soul. If there is no response after five breaths, everything shall belong to the contracted party.

3. During the period of descent, the contractor must not disobey any command except one that is suicidal in nature.

There were hundreds of densely packed clauses. The demon's face turned green as it read them. How was this a summoning contract? This was a fucking slave contract.

Why did greed become an original sin? This was why. If it did not fulfill the contract, it would become the slave of the human before it. And no matter how furious it was, it could not attack him.

It could not even plot to have someone else kill him, hire other demons to kill him, or use any other method. Every conceivable approach was covered by the penalty clauses.

In the end, the punishment was simple: either it carried out the orders, or everything it possessed would belong to the human before it. It even suspected that the other party's target had been itself all along, and that this contract had been designed solely to make it violate the terms.

"You damned Devil! You must be a follower of some Devil Duke."

The demon could only roar in fury. It did not even dare curse Yang Mu too harshly, because that too would require it to pay souls as a penalty.

"Uh, I understand your desire to compliment me, but I'd like to correct the way you compliment me. Many years ago, I taught Contract Rule Studies to many Devils in Hell.

"The Devil Duke you mentioned is merely one of my many Apprentices. Their Contract Rule Studies usually seemed rather rigid and superficial to me. Many things could clearly be marked with explicit indicators and then arrive at the same result through special methods of calculation, yet they could only use vague wording to mislead contractors. In my view, that is exceedingly crude."

Silence. A long silence. Everyone present—whether the demon, the sailors who had followed Yang Mu, or the Evil God believers on the other side—looked at Yang Mu speechlessly.

What kind of person was he? If what he said was true, then calling him a Devil really was an insult to him.

Even the demon was speechless. That was truly something else.

Jack looked at the demon, whose silent face was filled with despair, and felt sorry for it. Meeting the captain truly meant it had suffered eight lifetimes' worth of bad luck.

"Alright, enough idle chatter. Hand over all their souls and bodies to me."

If you enjoy this book and do not want to lose it next time, please remember to add it to your bookshelf.

At the request of our readers, VIP membership now includes an ad-free feature.

Click to view