CHAPTER 236: CHAPTER 236: SUBDUING JACK, SEARCHING FOR THE MOUNTAIN HUNTER

Buzz!

At that moment, a wave of Sword Intent swept through—the cold flash of a sword burst out from inside one of the wraiths, instantly killing Jack.

Right after, he revived again on the spot.

It was Johnnie!

Jack realized that attack didn’t come from any ghost—it was Johnnie’s sword strike.

"Human, what do you want from me?" He couldn’t see Johnnie, but he knew Johnnie was nearby.

Whooo...

A cold, eerie wind howled around him, like the wailing of ghosts. The scene grew even more frightening. Jack even saw demon powerhouses being torn apart and tortured by the vengeful spirits.

He even saw his father, Weyldon.

"Bastard, stop it!" Jack roared, trying to rush forward and help, but it was useless.

"It’s just an illusion, it’s all fake!" He kept telling himself that, but everything felt way too real.

"Despicable human, let me go!" Jack felt like he was going crazy from the torment. He kept shouting in anger.

Johnnie’s voice sounded: "Swear loyalty to me and I’ll let you go."

"Hmph, then you might as well just kill me!" Jack still refused to give in.

"As you wish." Johnnie replied coldly, then sent another sword light at him.

Puff!

-1,275,000

Jack was instantly killed again.

Then, he revived once more. The terrifying scene around him didn’t go away.

Buzz!

Another sword flash came instantly.

Jack was killed again.

And Johnnie clearly wasn’t planning to stop.

Jack kept dying and reviving, and all the while he was surrounded by this hellish illusion.

The torture was even worse than being trapped in magma.

The scariest part was, he couldn’t log out here. Back in the magma, at least he could log off and ask his father for help.

That time, his father had sent people into the Phoenix Ruins to rescue him.

But now, he couldn’t log out or contact the outside at all—he was completely stuck.

Puff...

After dying more than a dozen times, Jack’s mind and spirit were both on the verge of collapse.

If this kept up, with no way to log out and his mind under so much stress, he might really die for real.

"Stop, human! I give up! I’ll do as you say!" Jack finally broke, begging for mercy in humiliation.

Whoosh!

The nightmare scene vanished. The mountains of corpses, rivers of blood, and ghosts all disappeared. He found himself surrounded by green hills and clear waters again, peaceful and calm.

"Ahh..."

He let out a long sigh of relief and slumped to the ground, face pale.

Johnnie said coldly, "Swear loyalty to me."

Jack felt humiliated and angry, but he didn’t dare resist.

If he signed a soul contract, he’d be under Johnnie’s control for life. He could only hope his father, a Domain-level demon, might one day be able to break the contract.

Jack took a deep breath, sighed inside, and finally signed the soul contract with Johnnie, acknowledging him as master.

"Master." With the contract done and his soul bound, Jack didn’t dare show any more resistance. He stood up and gave a respectful bow.

"My lord!" Benz suddenly popped out of nowhere, curiously sizing up Jack. He asked, "Who’s this guy? He’s even uglier than me."

Jack was already frustrated from being forced to submit. Now, hearing a Minotaur mock him, he exploded in anger.

"You damn Minotaur, you’re even uglier than me, and you’ve got the nerve to make fun of me!"

"Screw you! I’m a Bull Demon!" Benz jumped up, furious. He hated being called a Minotaur more than anything.

The Bull Demon clan was nothing like those filthy, low-level Minotaurs.

"All right, that’s enough." Johnnie quickly stopped them before they started fighting.

He turned to Jack and asked, "Do you know where Blade King City is?"

Jack nodded. "I know where it is. Master, you’re not planning to go after Blade King, are you? That guy is a Divine powerhouse, a master of the blade. He’s really strong—even my father is a bit wary of him."

Johnnie already knew that Jack’s father, Weyldon, was also a Domain-level demon.

"He’s just a Lesser God—not worth worrying about." Johnnie said with a dismissive wave.

Jack couldn’t help glancing at Nalorin·Sylvia.

He could tell Sylvia was strong, but probably not a match for Blade King yet.

"Master, are you looking for that Cecilia?" Jack suddenly thought of something and asked.

Johnnie was surprised and quickly asked, "You’ve seen Cecilia?"

"No." Jack shook his head. "I just heard about her. That woman seems to have a special sense for Dragon Pulse. Blade King captured her to help find the Dragon Pulse, and a lot of our demon powerhouses wanted to work with Blade King because of it."

He hesitated, not saying the rest. With Johnnie heading to Blade King City, he might have to face more than one Domain-level enemy.

But for Jack, that might actually be a good thing—if Johnnie died, maybe the master-servant contract would break and he’d be free again.

Cecilia can sense the Dragon Pulse?

Johnnie was puzzled.

He’d been with Cecilia for a long time and never noticed anything strange.

To sense the Dragon Pulse, you’d need at least Celestial Dragon blood. Johnnie himself had that bloodline, but he hadn’t noticed anything unusual in the Land of Confusion.

Maybe Cecilia had some special ability he didn’t know about.

"Have you seen any other human adventurers?" Johnnie asked again.

For now, it seemed Cecilia wasn’t in immediate danger, but he was more worried about Atlas and the others.

Jack shook his head. "After the news about the Dragon Pulse got out, a lot of powerful outsiders came into the Land of Confusion, including some human adventurers. But aside from you, Master, I haven’t run into any other humans."

Johnnie sighed—seemed like he’d have to rely on luck to find them.

At least Atlas and the others were still online in the real world, so they should be safe for now.

Time to exchange for Spirit Stones.

Johnnie still had a lot of Slime gel, and he could have Jack help trade it for Spirit Stones.

Jack had been hunting fire slimes here to get Fire-Spirit Stones, so he must know where to find the Mountain Hunter.

"If you want to exchange for Spirit Stones, Master, no problem." Jack agreed right away. Then he added, "Master, if you have any extra Fire-Spirit Stones, can you give me some?"

He already knew Johnnie controlled the Fire Element Law, so he couldn’t use Fire-Spirit Stones anymore. J

ack’s Fire Elemental Gift was up to 90%—if he refined another thousand Fire-Spirit Stones, he could grasp the Fire Element Law too.

"That depends on how you behave." Johnnie said coldly. He knew Jack wasn’t truly loyal and would surely betray him if given the chance.

But with the soul contract, Johnnie wasn’t worried.

"Let’s go back to the Land of Confusion." Johnnie said, and with a thought, they all left the Map of Heaven and Earth and returned to the Land of Confusion.

Benz came out too—he didn’t like quiet places and preferred fighting anyway.

"Master, all the Mountain Hunters are in these woods. I’ll take you there." Jack said, pointing deeper into the forest.

Johnnie nodded, and the group continued moving through the woods, killing the occasional Slime along the way.

The Slimes here weren’t as concentrated as the ones attacking the outer walls of Stellar City.

Johnnie’s Mage of the Five Elements class needed to advance again, and he had to kill a hundred thousand demonic creatures with elemental attributes.

In half a day, he had only hunted a little over a thousand Slimes—not nearly enough.

"Jack, do you know where there are big groups of Slimes?" Johnnie wasn’t satisfied with their progress and asked.

"Yes, there’s a Slime nest, but there’s a Half-God level Slime guarding it. Master, I don’t think we can handle it." Jack replied, glancing at the others.

Slime can reach Domain level?

Johnnie was surprised. It was already hard enough for demonic creatures to advance. Most of these Slimes were just stage 6, and even their bosses only reached stage 7 at best.

But a Domain-level Slime in a nest? That didn’t make sense.

Jack saw his confusion and explained, "Master, the Land of Confusion is dangerous because these monsters have no upper limit to their growth. Even a rabbit you see here could be a stage 8 or stage 9 powerhouse. Elemental Slimes have strong talent, so it’s normal for one to become a Divine powerhouse."

"A rabbit could reach stage 9? Isn’t that a bit much?" Benz clearly didn’t believe it.

Jack glanced at him and said coolly, "You Minotaurs are at the bottom of the food chain here."

"You brat, you want to die? I’ll say it again, I’m not a Minotaur—I’m a mighty Bull Demon!" Benz yelled, eyes wide, ready to fight.

Johnnie ignored their argument and kept hunting Slimes, collecting slime gel and Magic Cores.

"Hm?" Suddenly, he frowned, sensing something, and quickly took out a compass.

It was the Induction Compass.

Right now, the Induction Compass seemed to be reacting to a call. The needle was pointing straight ahead.

Could it be a fragment of the Map of Heaven and Earth?

Johnnie was excited. He looked at Jack, who was still arguing with Benz, and asked, "Jack, what’s ahead of us?"

The two stopped bickering.

Jack looked in the direction Johnnie pointed and said, "Master, there’s nothing special up ahead. Go a bit further and you’ll reach the Mountain Hunter’s place."

Mountain Hunter’s place?

Could that Map of Heaven and Earth fragment be with the Mountain Hunter?

"Let’s go check it out!" Johnnie sped up.

The forest here was even denser, and not only Slimes but other strong monsters appeared too.

Jack was right—you couldn’t judge the monsters here by Universe Continent standards.

They ran into a pack of Blood Wargs, and they were actually stage 8 monsters.

But against Johnnie and his group, they were still no match and were wiped out easily.

Like Slimes, these Blood Wargs also had Magic Cores inside them, and their cores were even stronger.

Johnnie guessed that these Magic Cores were the reason why monsters here could keep growing stronger with no real limit.

They quickly cleaned up the battlefield, collected the Magic Cores, and kept moving forward.

"Master, I sense divine power ahead. Two Domain-level beings are fighting." Nalorin·Sylvia said, flying into the air to look around.

Johnnie hadn’t sensed anything yet, but when he checked his compass, the needle was pointing right in the direction of the divine power.