stjorthotic Chapter 19 Payment
Chapter 19 Payment
Chen Yang and the others were still reeling from the lightning-fast slaughter.
The next second, the light spots converged at another point on Jade Island, and the foreign man's figure solidified once more. After all, death in a dream is not real death; Su Fan had conducted experiments before.
The case is when Ya Zi was disciplining Chen Yang, Chen Yang died several times during that time.
The foreign man knelt on the ground, his hands clutching his chest as if there were an invisible hole there. His face was ashen, and he was gasping for breath. His eyes were completely consumed by fear. The excruciating pain of being pierced was still vividly etched into every nerve in his body.
The bear-like monster's four golden eyes remained unmoved as it slowly turned to the "reborn" target. It took heavy steps, one step, two steps, moving with an earth-shaking force towards the limp man.
The man finally let out a terrified howl in his mother tongue, scrambling backward, tears streaming down his face.
The bear monster ignored him. With a slight swing of its giant shield, it swept across the area with the force to shatter mountains and collapse peaks.
"Bang!"
A dull thud. The man's body was as if struck by a speeding truck, instantly deformed, thrown backward, and disintegrated into light again in mid-air.
The third condensation. The man was limp as a rag doll, his eyes unfocused, only physiological spasms and silent weeping remaining. The bulwark of his will, after two extremely real deaths, was like a candle in the wind.
The bear-like monster raised its long spear, poised to strike.
Right now.
Su Fan's thoughts, like the darkest undercurrent, silently spread out, precisely piercing the consciousness that was on the verge of complete collapse. [Soul Searching Technique] activated.
The prerequisites are perfectly met: the will to resist is weak, and mental strength is weakened by fear and pain.
There was no resistance, only chaos, screams, and a desperate vortex of countless fragments of memory rushing towards them.
Su Fan learned through the Soul Searching Technique that the foreigner's name was Tokugawa Koji, and from the name, he knew he was from Japan.
According to his memory, the other party was a descendant of Tokugawa Ieyasu and a linguistics expert. Su Fan, relying on the Soul Searching Technique, instantly gained linguistic proficiency.
Su Fan, Jiang He, Wang Jianguo, and Chen Yang stood in a small circle to the side, watching the bear monster slaughter Tokugawa Koji while keeping an eye out for it turning on them.
"What...what the hell is that?!" Chen Yang was the first to break the silence, his voice still trembling with shock.
"It looks like a black bear that has come to life, and it has four eyes! It's incredibly strong. Su Fan, you've read a lot of books, do you recognize this thing? Did it come out of the Classic of Mountains and Seas?" Wang Jianguo asked.
Su Fan then revealed a thoughtful expression, his brows furrowed slightly, as if he were searching his memory.
He paused briefly, as if organizing his thoughts, before slowly speaking, his voice tinged with uncertainty: "Its appearance, and that halberd and shield, remind me of something recorded in ancient books... It might not be a mythical beast in the narrow sense, but perhaps related to some kind of duty or ritual."
The *Zhou Li* (Rites of Zhou), in the section on the Summer Official, mentions: "The Fangxiangshi (方相氏) is in charge of wearing a bear skin, with four golden eyes, dressed in black robes and red skirts, wielding a spear and shield, leading a hundred servants to perform exorcisms at appropriate times, to search rooms and drive away plagues."
Su Fan carefully considered the words, "The official position of Fangxiangshi is responsible for wearing a bear skin, a mask with four golden eyes, a black upper garment and a red lower garment, and carrying a halberd and a shield. He leads a large number of servants to perform Nuo rituals and search palaces and houses to drive away the plague demons."
Fang Xiangshi may have played the role of this guy. The ancients believed that a more ferocious image was necessary to scare away the plague demon, thus fulfilling their duty of protection.
This fellow happens to be wielding a spear and shield, bear-like, with four golden eyes. He's probably Fang Xiang.
Su Fan explained that since he derived it from the image in his mind, it naturally matched.
"Come back, Fang Xiang!" A calm yet undeniably penetrating voice rang out, neither too loud nor too soft. The voice seemed to come from all directions, yet it also seemed to resonate directly in the depths of everyone's consciousness.
The four-eyed, golden-eyed Fang Xiang, wielding a spear and shield, also stopped moving upon hearing this.
The next moment, auspicious seven-colored clouds descended leisurely from that sky, their hues swirling and their precious light shimmering. Above the clouds, a man stood with his hands behind his back; it was Luo Jiuchuan.
He was still dressed in that indescribably luxurious attire, with seven-colored hair and a handsome face covered with a layer of aloofness and arrogance like millennia-old ice.
His gaze swept across the chaotic scene below—pausing over the limp Tokugawa Koji and the four men, Chen Yang and his companions, who were still in shock and on high alert.
Upon seeing Luo Jiuchuan, Fang Xiang immediately surrounded him, acting extremely intimately. Everyone assumed that Fang Xiang was acting on Luo Jiuchuan's orders.
"Oh?" Luo Jiuchuan's tone rose slightly, no longer purely cold, but showing a hint of curiosity. "To be able to recognize 'Fang Xiang' at a glance... that kind of insight does pique my curiosity."
Luo Jiuchuan's ambiguous smile deepened. "What you've acquired—is it the keen observation of the nine-tailed fox, the intuition of the Xie Zhi, or the hearing of the Di Ting that can hear all things? Surely it's not the Chongming Bird, is it? Or the inheritance of the Yu Quan or Chi Guo? How come you recognize Fang Xiang?"
Facing that scrutinizing gaze, Su Fan suppressed the slight sense of calm that came from the successful soul search, and tried his best to show the flattered look that should be expected when being questioned by a powerful person.
"Senior, you are wise. What I obtained by chance was Bai Ze's inheritance, which is indeed fragmented and disorganized." He paused deliberately, observing Luo Jiuchuan's reaction, "That's why I was able to recognize Fang Xiang."
"Bai Ze?" Luo Jiuchuan raised an eyebrow, his surprise finally turning into understanding.
Taking advantage of the situation, Su Fan appropriately feigned confusion and inquiry, steer the conversation to the core issue: "Senior, since this... Fang Xiang is under your control, why did you suddenly attack that person? And it seems to be targeting only him?"
He asked cautiously, both pointing out the doubts of the crowd and showing his awe of Luo Jiuchuan's control.
"Attack?" He repeated Su Fan's words, his tone filled with undisguised sarcasm. "You think that's an attack?"
"That's just the most basic screening." Luo Jiuchuan's voice wasn't loud, but every word was like an ice pick, reaching everyone's ears. "To avoid offending my eyes and wasting each other's time. I did agree to make a deal with you, but not everyone is qualified to make a deal with me."
His gaze finally swept over Su Fan, Chen Yang, Jiang He, and Wang Jianguo again. This time, the scrutiny was stronger, and there was also a hint of assessment and satisfaction.
"However..." Luo Jiuchuan paused slightly, as if finally extracting a hint of almost condescending attention from his pure indifference, "I originally thought that only one or two people on the End Island would probably receive the inheritance, but I didn't expect that all four of you would receive it. This is quite unexpected."
"Alright, we can begin the transaction!" Four streams of light flew out from his sleeves, hovering in the air in front of him, spinning around. The light gradually subsided, revealing their true forms.
There were four gourds, each about the size of a fist and of different shapes.
Luo Jiuchuan's gaze swept across the four faces, taking in Chen Yang's longing, Wang Jianguo's surprise, Jiang He's caution, and Su Fan's feigned inquiry. As for Tokugawa Koji, who was slumped in the distance, almost oblivious to everything that was happening, there was no ripple in his eyes, as if he were just an insignificant background prop.
Because the "Contract Pen" is capable of "establishing a contract," it requires both parties to be willing and of sound mind to reach an agreement containing specific terms through words or clear thoughts.
"This item is called the 'Emotion-Absorbing Gourd'," Luo Jiuchuan's voice rang out calmly as he introduced the four gourds. "It's a simple magical artifact, and its function is also simple: when worn on the body, it can absorb fragments of unconscious or intensely fluctuating emotions from living beings within a certain range—joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, desire, and all kinds of emotions. The absorbed emotions settle and condense within the gourd, transforming into emotional crystals."
"The transaction is simple: I'll sell you this gourd. Of course, I know you don't have any money, so I'll give it to you on credit first. You'll collect Emotion Crystals, and each time you enter the Mountain and Sea Realm, you'll use 90% of the Emotion Crystals to pay off your debt and offset the cost of the gourd."
The remaining 10% is yours to use as you see fit until it is paid off. If you do not pay off the debt within 30 cycles in the Mountain and Sea Realm, the total amount of the debt will increase by 10%.
Furthermore, after you pay off the debt, 10% of the emotional crystals you collect should be given to me as a thank-you fee, and you must hand them over to me every time you enter the Mountain and Sea Realm.
"I'm pricing this gourd at 20,000, a crystallization of my emotions!" Luo Jiuchuan said confidently.
Jiang He quickly began to think: 90% of each harvest would be used to pay off debts, with only 10% kept for himself. He didn't know how effective the Soul-Draining Gourd was at transformation.
Interest compounding! Although it's a low interest rate of 1%, it's undoubtedly adding insult to injury in the face of a long repayment period and a huge principal. It means that if they don't collect their debts efficiently, they may never be able to pay them off, and the debt will only snowball!
This isn't a transaction; it's clearly a contract of servitude! A slave contract!
Jiang He's mind raced with calculations.
First 30 installments (interest-free): Each installment payment = 90% of income.
Remaining debt after 30 installments = 20000 - 27 × (the income portion corresponding to each installment payment).
After 30 periods (interest accrues):
If there is still outstanding debt, the remaining debt will increase by 10% each period before repayment.
Key condition: The remaining debt after 30 installments must be ≤ 9 times the amount of each installment payment; otherwise, the debt will snowball.
That is: 20000 - 27×(0.9×income)≤ 9×(0.9×income).
Solution: Income ≥ 20000 ÷ 36 = 5000/9 ≈ 555.56.
If they collect less than 556 emotional crystals within ten days, they will never be able to pay off the debt.
Jiang He could agree to a 10% thank-you fee, but if it's assumed that the conversion efficiency of this magic item is not enough to collect 56 pieces per day, then it's impossible to pay off the debt.
This number made Chen Yang gasp. They had previously received emotional crystals "bestowed" by Luo Jiuchuan, each about the size of an egg. To collect 20,000? That would probably fill a room.
Wang Jianguo opened his mouth, his face bitter, clearly also shocked by this astronomical figure.