A prompt appeared.

——

[Cultivation session complete. Your Wind-Stepping Step proficiency +168; your Basic Saber Technique proficiency +61; your Great Strength Vajra Palm proficiency +316.]

——

"This cultivation method is incredible!"

Cheng Zongyang sighed in amazement. Actual combat was far more efficient than practicing a single Martial Art alone! With double the proficiency gain and the combat experience he acquired, those 3,000 Points were well spent!

Even the Wind-Stepping Step, a foreign Martial Art he had to figure out entirely on his own through trial and error, had seen its proficiency increase by over a hundred points. Besides the double proficiency effect, this was also because training efficiency was higher in a combat state!

Not to mention the Palm Technique he bought with Points. He had not only reached the Beginner stage but also improved a fair bit beyond that, which was more than enough to prove the benefits of actual combat!

He summoned his panel to take a closer look.

——

Name: Cheng Zongyang

Age: 15 (Years)

Lifespan: 15/98 (Years)

Realm: Eighth Grade (Muscle Strengthening)

Points: 5,309

Skills: Archery (11,642/20,000, Specialization); Medicine Recognition (102/1,000, Beginner Level)

Cultivation Technique:

Body Refining Skill (2,809/3,000, Eighth Grade)

Martial Arts:

Basic Saber Technique (653/3,000, Entering the Hall and Chamber)

Wind-Stepping Step (271/1,000, Beginner’s Practice)

Great Strength Vajra Palm (292/1,000, Beginner’s Practice)

——

’I still have 5,300 Points. No need to rush!’

Cheng Zongyang left the second floor and noticed his clothes were still clean.

That saved him the time it would have taken to wash up.

Downstairs, he saw that Ma San had already stacked thirty bags of rice, ready to be moved. This offered a new explanation for where the Golden Sand had gone.

However, just as Cheng Zongyang was about to leave the Wilderness World and move the grain out, Li Xingyun, who was outside, saw that he had finished his Cultivation and immediately ran over to report.

"My lord, I have met your request. The Growth Liquid has been formulated."

Li Xingyun’s words made Cheng Zongyang’s eyes light up. "Have you tested it?"

This was something that could rapidly cultivate plant growth; he couldn’t imagine how much time it would save waiting for seeds to sprout and take root.

"We’ve tested several types, including the Wilderness Oil Beans. After formulating it yesterday afternoon, we soaked the seeds. By evening, after just two hours, the Wilderness Oil Bean seeds had already begun to crack open. We estimate they should root themselves in the soil by around midnight."

"That fast?" This time, Cheng Zongyang was truly shocked!

He had thought it might shorten the process by two or three days. He never imagined it would only take a day—no, not even a day, just half a day!

"Li Xingyun, are you sure it’s that fast??" Cheng Zongyang still felt a sense of shock.

’Sprouting and taking root in six or seven hours... What other seed is that fast?’

’In my past life, it seemed only the seed of the saxaul tree from the desert regions could compare, right?’

’The only reason I know about it is because of those forest-planting certificates from some online shopping platform back in the day.’

’This speed was already comparable to those seeds.’

But then another thought occurred to him, and he asked, "Have you tested other seeds? Don’t tell me only this type is this fast?"

Li Xingyun smiled. "Rest assured, my lord. I’ve tested all the vegetable and fruit seeds you stored away. The time difference isn’t significant. In fact, these oil bean seeds are among the slower ones."

"Good! Then I’m putting you in charge of cultivating the seeds. Start planting as soon as possible. We also need to reserve a large quantity of seeds for future planting."

"Rest assured, my lord," Li Xingyun said, clasping his hands.

"Oh, right," Cheng Zongyang added. "Don’t forget to cultivate the medicinal seeds."

"Understood," Li Xingyun said, nodding to show he’d taken note.

Seeing there was nothing else, Cheng Zongyang exited the Wilderness World.

He looked out at the many places beyond the mountain that were still burning and shook his head slightly.

’I’m afraid things are even tougher over in the County Town.’

Cheng Zongyang began to take out the bags of rice one by one, placing them in a relatively dry spot.

The rain had not only extinguished the massive fire that could have burned down all of Tianduan Mountain, but it had also brought new hope to the countless unharmed plants outside the Inner Mountain Pass.

A moment later, Cheng Zongyang called some people over to move the new thirty bags of rice back, storing them in the cellar after logging them into the inventory.

The additional grain also put everyone’s minds at ease. The great fire had killed many animals. Animals meant meat, and with the reduction of fresh meat, the consumption of preserved dried and cured meats, as well as rice and flour, would naturally increase slightly.

After the grain was stored, Cheng Zongyang also told his Second Aunt where the Golden Sand had gone, asking her to record it.

Cheng Zongyang had people continue the work of panning for gold.

The first special item obtained from the new item slot had made Cheng Zongyang very expectant.

Therefore, he hoped to gather the hundred taels of gold needed to open the sixth slot sooner rather than later.

After a busy day, Cheng Zongyang took a medicinal bath and then began to write a contract.

To make the Oath Contract more acceptable to everyone, he even came up with a name for it, elegantly calling it the Oath of the Azure Heaven.

Swear to the heavens, with the azure heaven as witness, and the azure heaven will deliver retribution!

Once a few examples of the corresponding price being paid by individuals emerged, everyone else would probably start to believe in the existence of the oath.

At that point, he could further introduce a clan ideology—the Azure Heaven protects the Cheng Family!

Otherwise, why would members of other families face no consequences for breaking an oath, while breaking one with the Cheng Family would lead to disaster?

This would also greatly strengthen the conviction of those who joined the Cheng Family to uphold the oath, reducing the chances of betrayal.

After more than an hour of drafting and revising, Cheng Zongyang had written three or four draft templates for the Oath Contract.

They could be targeted at different groups of people.

For example, enemies, Outsiders, guards, allies, and so on.

The prices for breaking the oath included, but were not limited to, "ten years of Lifespan," "a hundred years of Lifespan," "one’s entire Lifespan," and "one’s Martial Arts Cultivation."

These would all be written into different templates for different people, along with the corresponding penalties for violation.

Of course, these were just templates with many loopholes in their content; they were just for an initial attempt.

If it worked, everything would be great; if not, it was all for naught.

But one problem still troubled Cheng Zongyang: how to handle the disposition of the forfeited Lifespan and Martial Arts Cultivation.

Forfeited Souls could be written as ’Soul Returns to the Wilderness World,’ which was easy enough to explain. But he couldn’t very well write something like "ten years of Lifespan are transferred to Cheng Zongyang" or "Martial Arts Cultivation is transferred to Cheng Zongyang," could he?

Anyone signing that would probably be terrified, or at least unwilling. After all, phrasing it that way was a bit creepy.

In the end, Cheng Zongyang decided on another approach. He grabbed his manuscript, used the excuse of going for a walk, and re-entered the Wilderness World.

He still didn’t know if what he had written would be effective. He had to check first.

He summoned the Oath Contract template.

Cheng Zongyang took the contents of a roughly handwritten Oath Contract and began to redraft them within the template according to his ideas.

A moment later, a brand-new template appeared.

——

(In the future, if item descriptions like this are lengthy, I will put them in the auxiliary-Chapters section with Chapter markers so you can find the corresponding Chapter to read it. This will also prevent people from saying I’m just padding the word count. However, I won’t do this for the protagonist’s attribute panel or other short descriptions.)

——

Although this draft of the Oath Contract had many loopholes, it was only meant to test whether the penalty for violation in the second clause was feasible.

Of course, this Zhang Guangwen had never seen this contract before.

After Cheng Zongyang finished drafting it, he clicked [Submit].

If it could be manifested, that would mean it was feasible.

If it was feasible, he would still have to continue revising it.

However, the next moment, a prompt appeared on the draft contract:

[In the Oath Contract, the contents of Clause 2, sub-clauses ③ and ④ are invalid. Please revise. Additionally, it is recommended that the content of the oath in Clause 1 be as detailed as possible. Overly general terms can easily lead to misapplication of the rules.]

Seeing this prompt, Cheng Zongyang was left a bit speechless.

’All that work for nothing.’

Based on all the system and "golden finger" novels he had read in his past life, this kind of existence couldn’t possibly be so generous as to give the protagonist so many good things for free. Their purpose was always an exchange!

Countless systems were like "salesmen" running around the myriad heavens, and the "bosses" behind them needed to obtain the Points, Lifespan, Souls, qi and blood, time, and so on that each host acquired.

They had their hosts go out and obtain these things, then use these collected resources to exchange for items or power that the system could provide.

It was a principle of transaction that both sides considered fair, a case of each taking what they needed.

Now that this Oath Contract template had suddenly appeared, demanding Lifespan and the signer’s Soul upon violation, it made Cheng Zongyang realize that this Stone Ring also had such needs.

It proved that his previous speculations were correct.

Whether it was Points, or now Lifespan and Souls!

And yet, he himself was unable to obtain them through this method.