Chapter 80: The Perilous Devil’s Pact

Chu Cheng glanced around, carefully examining his surroundings, but he could sense nothing of the Abyssal Demon Imortal’s presence. The passersby nearby showed no signs of anything amiss either, as if everything that had just happened was nothing more than a dream. Yet he knew with certainty that he had truly encountered Imortal only moments before.

“No, I need to get to the bottom of this,” he muttered, gritting his teeth. Without delay, he sent a message to his homeroom teacher, Duan Yuqin, detailing everything that had just occurred.

Almost instantly, Duan Yuqin replied:
“Do not act out of the ordinary, and do not tell anyone else. Whatever plans you had before, continue as if nothing happened.”
“I understand,” he responded.
“Teacher, isn’t this soul contract with a devil extremely risky? Is there any way to exploit loopholes or bugs in it? Is it possible to save a portion of your soul’s value until the end of your life, instead of using it all up?”
“No!” Duan Yuqin denied him without hesitation, and continued:
“There are never any real loopholes in a devil’s soul contract. Any flaw you think you see is one they have left deliberately, tempting you to sign out of greed and thus sell your soul.”
“Indeed, if you don’t use up all your soul’s value, you could theoretically live on until the end of your natural life—but that’s not a loophole.”
“Devils don’t need to seize your soul immediately. As long as you’ve signed the contract, it makes no difference to them whether they claim your soul now or a hundred years from now. They have infinite patience.”
“In fact, as your life experiences grow richer and your strength increases, your soul becomes all the more refined, all the more delectable to them. They actually prefer well-matured souls.”
“Also, don’t ever think you can sign a contract now, then break it later after advancing to Legendary rank or higher, taking the benefits for free. I’m telling you, that’s impossible.”
“The more valuable the soul, the harsher the contract.”
“For an ordinary person, the contract is standard, and that trick might work. But for a target whose soul is of sufficient value, the contract will always be of the highest grade, witnessed by either a devil monarch or a Lord of Calamity. Even if you ascend to the rank of god or demon, you cannot escape.”
“Your soul’s value right now already exceeds one hundred units of domain origin. This will absolutely be the highest grade contract. You must not sign it.”
“Uh...”
“I won’t sign.”
“Remember, you absolutely must not sign. Never trust a devil’s promises.”
“Understood!”

After closing the message interface, Chu Cheng rubbed his forehead in silent frustration.
“This Void Mark needs to be purified as soon as possible, or it’s going to keep causing trouble.”
Even the devils were coming to find him now.

But that was a minor problem. The bigger issue would come once he entered other realms in the future. With an initial reputation of ‘Aloof,’ how was he supposed to get by? If he started out neutral, he could interact with the natives right away and build up reputation; but with ‘Aloof’ as his starting point, he wouldn’t be able to engage with the locals at all, and in some righteous factions, he wouldn’t even be able to make contact. At that point, he would either have to pay a steep price to raise his reputation from ‘Aloof’ to ‘Neutral’ before working his way upward, wasting a great deal of time and effort, or else abandon the mainstream route entirely and follow an evil path.

But the evil path ran utterly counter to his values. He was a normal person—who in their right mind would want to be a villain? In these realms, taking the evil path was far more than murder and arson—those were just the first steps. Any evil faction hoping to reach a ‘Worshipped’ reputation would have to commit truly heinous acts, like massacring entire towns.

Chu Cheng’s values were perfectly ordinary; he had no intention of becoming a murderous, villainous boss.
After Duan Yuqin’s stern admonition, Chu Cheng’s resolve was cemented.

The very next day, he set out with the vanguard to the Orc King’s domain.

Three days later, the vanguard crossed the wastelands and arrived at the Withered River, only fifteen kilometers from the Orc King’s domain, where they made camp on a flat plain south of the river. The Withered River was a major tributary of the Blackwater River, the main source of water for the Orc King’s domain.

Across the river lay another stretch of open plain, upon which the Orc King’s domain was established. The land along the river had already been cultivated and planted with crops unique to the orcs. Numerous orc settlements dotted the area, with chaotic clusters of tents everywhere; the deeper one went, the more orcs there were, until at the very heart stood a massive inner city—this was the core of the Orc King’s domain.

The fact that the orcs had begun constructing a city meant they were in a transitional phase between nomadic and agrarian societies. If this transformation succeeded, each tribe would settle in the wastelands and establish its own farming district. With enough grain, the population would inevitably swell, and in a short time, the entire great wasteland would be under orc control—at which point, humanity might not be able to hold them back at all.

But the orcs would never get that chance. This realm had already been transformed into a replica instance, resetting every three months. Everything returned to the beginning, and they could never truly develop. The only way to change their fate would be outside intervention to break the cycle of the instance—but that was exceedingly difficult. The school owned this replica realm, and as its controller, could easily expel any intruders, even legendary powerhouses, unless a Calamity-level disaster invaded. Yet the school’s replica realms, located on the surface layer of the Chaos Realm and close to the human main world, were virtually out of reach of such calamities. Thus, once these realms were fixed as replica instances, their fate was more or less set in stone.

Of course, none of this had much to do with Chu Cheng. Though one day he would have his own private replica realm, that was a concern for the distant future. For now, his only goal was to grow stronger.

The vanguard, after establishing their camp, did nothing but defend it, awaiting the arrival of the main force. The nearby orc tribes had already been mostly wiped out or had retreated into the Orc King’s domain.

Two days later, a human army arrived, joining the camp. Another day passed, and the main force—about five thousand strong—also arrived, bringing the total human force in the camp to nearly eight thousand, twice the number at the Battle of Blackwater River. At this time, the Orc King’s domain held only orcs; the centaur forces were absent. Comparing the two sides’ strength, victory for the humans was almost certain. The only unknowns were how many casualties it would cost, how long it would take to breach the city, and who would be first through the gates.

Chu Cheng no longer hoped to be the first through the gate; his plan for this battle was to slay as many orcs as possible, to secure at least a five-star story rating. As for whether he could surpass Sun Yu, he would simply do his best.

The human commander was still Elro. After the main force arrived, they did not attack immediately, but first established a fortified camp. Across the river, orcs were gathering en masse, apparently intent on preventing the humans from crossing.

To Chu Cheng’s surprise, the commander made no preparations for pontoon bridges or boats—he had no idea how they planned to cross the river when the time came.