The Divine Contract That Must Not Be Signed

His wives were also inside the Divine Temple and unable to control it. If he couldn't access the Temple, he couldn't even let his wives out. But they were only at the Ancestral Immortal level—if they came out, they wouldn't be able to withstand the God Realm's freakish laws anyway.

He tried communicating with the Divine Temple's artifact spirit, but got nowhere.

There were only a little over fifty god-crystals in his storage Divine Ring—nowhere near enough for all of them to live in Yushan Prefecture for a year.

From the mouths of those summoned Divines, he'd learned that in the God Realm, most people earned god-crystals by joining the God-Demon Corps. But to join, you needed at least a hundred god-crystals and late-stage lower-god cultivation.

Once you joined the God-Demon Corps, you could take missions from any of its branches. Complete a mission and you'd get the corresponding god-crystal reward.

Supposedly, all of the more than ten thousand prefectural cities in the God Realm had a branch of the God-Demon Corps.

As for cultivation, Ian Song was qualified.

But he just couldn't come up with a hundred god-crystals.

The second option was to work for one of the local powers.

But those private forces were notorious for being shady. Not only did they pay little, their attitude was also extremely harsh.

The soldiers who had led Ian Song and his group to the square departed.

A crowd of men and women quickly rushed over, and then an elderly man announced in a loud voice, "Everyone, I am the steward of the Carson Family, the largest artifact-refining clan in Yushan Prefecture. Right now, I need to recruit a group of artifact-refining apprentice workers. As long as you become an apprentice in the Carson Family, we will solve your Yushan City residency problem, and you’ll also receive a salary of three god-crystals per year. Of course, not just anyone can qualify as an apprentice—anyone at mid-stage lower-god realm or above can sign up with me!"

Among the hundred-some newly ascended gods, there were forty-five at mid-stage lower-god realm or higher.

Hearing the old man's words, only Ian Song and his two subordinates remained unmoved; the others were clearly tempted.

In the end, twenty-five people stepped forward, expressing their willingness to become apprentice refiners for the Carson Family.

The old man smiled and produced a paper divine contract, instructing them to drip blood onto it.

But none of them could read the divine script on the contract, so for a moment, many people hesitated.

Seeing this, the old man sneered, "What, are you worried the Carson Family is trying to trick you? Go ask around—our Carson Family is the biggest artifact-refining clan in Yushan City!

And if you miss this opportunity, you’ll be driven out of the city. Once you leave, you won’t be able to cultivate properly, and there are plenty of bandits and ferocious beasts outside the city. With your current strength, if you get kicked out, surviving ten days would already be considered lucky!"

Hearing this, Ian Song secretly laughed. Before ascending to the God Realm, he’d made preparations and specifically summoned Divines to learn divine script from them, so he could read the contract himself.

This wasn’t an employment contract at all—it was a slave contract for lifelong servitude.

Sign it, and you’d be a Carson Family slave forever.

No wonder that soldier had warned him not to sign divine contracts lightly.

However, even though Ian Song saw through the scheme, he had no intention of exposing it. That old man was already an Upper-Rank God, and the Carson Family behind him almost certainly had Heavenly-God-level backing.

Right now, Ian was only an early Mid-Rank God. With the power of his Pangu Sacred Body and the World-Cleaving Axe, he could easily defeat most late-stage Mid-Rank Gods, but facing an Upper-Rank God would be tough.

If he angered the Carson Family, they could easily send a few Upper-Rank Gods to kill him.

So he couldn’t expose them. Besides, aside from Bai Yucheng, whom he barely knew, he hadn’t even spoken to the others—why risk his life for a bunch of strangers?

As soon as she finished speaking, the female god drifted away gracefully.

"Brother Song, is there some hidden trick in those divine contracts?"

Overhearing their conversation, Bai Yucheng realized there must be something shady about all this.

"Those divine contracts are slave contracts. If you sign, you’ll be someone’s slave for eternity!"

Bai Yucheng was stunned by Ian Song’s explanation, then a wave of relief flashed across his face. If Ian hadn’t warned him, he might have already signed, with no hope of ever regaining his freedom.

He bowed deeply to Ian. "Brother Song, thank you. I owe you one!"

As they spoke, the group headed toward the edge of the square.

"Brother Song, what are you planning to do next?"

Bai Yucheng asked.

"I don’t have enough god-crystals, so I’ll have to leave Yushan City for now," Ian said with a frustrated sigh.

"Unfortunately, I only have five god-crystals myself—not enough to qualify for a residence permit in Yushan City," Bai Yucheng said with a self-deprecating smile.

"Consider these five god-crystals a loan from me."

Ian handed five god-crystals to Bai Yucheng.

"Are you sure?"

Bai Yucheng hesitated, but he was clearly tempted.

Ian said, "I don’t have enough god-crystals for all twelve of my people to stay in the city anyway. Since that’s the case, I’d rather do Brother Bai a favor!"

"Brother Song, I’ll remember this kindness!"

Bai Yucheng said gratefully.

He immediately paid ten god-crystals at the city office and received a one-year residence permit for Yushan City.

After they parted ways, Ian led his group out of the city.

Just after leaving the city limits, Ian immediately felt the divine energy outside become extremely violent and hard to refine. He had a thought and drew it into his internal chaotic vortex.

As the chaotic vortex spun, the wild divine energy grew gentle, then fed back into Ian’s body.

Because the divine energy outside the city was so violent, the God Realm’s beasts were extremely aggressive—almost every time they saw a god, they’d attack madly.

But if you could hunt and kill these beasts, you could trade their bodies for god-crystals.

So Ian decided to take his team and hunt dozens of beasts first—once they sold them, they’d be able to buy residence rights in Yushan Prefecture.

By the way, it’s worth mentioning—

The God Realm has both day and night. At night, the divine energy grows even more violent, so gods almost never hunt beasts after dark—at night, the beasts become utterly berserk.