Chapter 246: Soul Contract

It had to be said, Chen Xiaolian was essentially someone who could be considered as someone extremely good when it came to the act of lying.

Why?

Because he was one of the writers for online fiction novels.

He made a living by making up stories.

When it came to the ability to make stuff up, Chen Xiaolian felt that there was no one near him who could come close to him.

If so… now was probably the time for him to show off his ‘professional skill’.

He silently thought of the names of the seniors like Third Young Master Tang (TJSS), Dancing and various others. Then, he took a deep breath.

He then abruptly turned toward Merlin. Raising his head up high, he laughed out loud.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!!”

He laughed heartily and was filled with confidence!

This was him seizing the momentum. Regardless if he had any cards or not, what he needed to do was to display a strong atmosphere to deter the other party.

The louder his laugh was, his opponent’s confidence would erode more as they thought – did I make a mistake somewhere?

A change washed over Merlin’s expression and he stared at Chen Xiaolian. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “You… what are you laughing at?”

Chen Xiaolian ignored the question and continued laughing vigorously. He laughed until he was almost out of breath before he finally stopped. He inhaled deeply and turned to Merlin. He said, “I am laughing at the fact that you have too much doubts.”

“Too much doubts?” Merlin became seemingly shocked – there was no doubt about it, Merlin was an intelligent man. Be it in the legends or what Chen Xiaolian had sensed about him for the past few days, this Merlin was certainly a man of intellect.

However, the more intelligent a person was, the more likely that person was to face an illness: Overthinking!

“Jack, this is a very common name, is it not?” Chen Xiaolian said with confidence.

“… … …”

“All I did was asked if you would coincidentally have the name Jack in your name. I did not say, I know that your full name contains the word Jack,” Chen Xiaolian said in a steady manner. “In this world, the number of people named Jack goes up to tens of thousands. Even within this Norman army, it would not be difficult to find hundreds of men named Jack.”

“…” Merlin’s expression loosened but was quick to turn into a frown. He said, “That is not right. Just now, that is not what you said. Let me ask you, how did you deduce that my name contains the word Jack!”

“It’s very simple. You told me, you hated women,” said Chen Xiaolian as he spread out his hands. “Coincidentally for me, very coincidentally, I happen to be acquainted with a friend whose name is Jack. That fellow is the same as you; he really, really hates women.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head and continued, “What else could it be? I have never met you before, I am not a warlock and I do not have the powers of prediction. How am I supposed to know that your name contains the word Jack?”

Merlin frowned and said, “Those words of yours… I keep getting the feeling that you are not being truthful.”

“Then, what do you want?” Chen Xiaolian suddenly became angry.

He began utilizing his second art of lying.

The first art involved him laughing out loudly to steal the momentum away from Merlin.

The second art involved… inverting the rake and striking the opponent [1].

Chen Xiaolian put on an aggrieved expression and said, “Do not forget, Merlin! We are on the same team! We are both fighting for the sake of King William! A few days ago, I had to risk my life for this army! In that supposed ambush, your screw up nearly got me killed! I had personally killed off many of Harold’s soldiers. That is something that you have personally witnessed as well. In fact, I even killed off one of the enemy aristocrats!  I personally smashed that fellow’s head down. That was something that many men could attest to!

“And now, you’re suspecting me?

“Do you suspect me of being a spy? Do you suspect me for being one of Harold’s minions?

“Just because I happened to have a friend who also hates women like you? Just because that friend also happens to have the word Jack in his name?

“Just because of a name?

“Because of that, you are going to deny all my merits earned through a life and death battle?

“Is this how you treat warriors in this camp?

“Don’t forget, I was the one who took the initiative to come find you tonight. I wanted to discuss with you how to proceed with tomorrow’s battle and how to deal with Harold! How to win this war!

“If I had other plans, would I do that?

“I am here with all my sincerity to painstakingly discuss with you how we can win this fight! Yet, because of a coincidence, because I happen to know a name, you doubt me? Did I kill all those enemies for nothing? Did I bleed back then for nothing?

“If so, go on and tell me! What intentions could I be having? What kind of evil purpose could I be planning to serve?

“Say it!”

Chen Xiaolian stared angrily at Merlin.

After a while, the expression on Merlin’s face loosened. Faced with Chen Xiaolian’s furious stare, he felt somewhat unused to it and he turned his gaze away.

“… all right.” Merlin frowned and said, “It’s true that I do not have any evidence…”

“There is none to begin with!”

“And yet, I still think that you are very suspicious.”

“If that is the case, then I will leave here today. I will leave the Norman army and go far away! Then, I wish you all the best in this war and that King William would one day ascend to the throne in London.

“Are you satisfied with that?”

This was Chen Xiaolian’s third move.

Backing down to make progress!

…

“Do you dare to swear an oath?” Merlin suddenly turned toward Chen Xiaolian.

“… swear? Swear to what kind of oath?”

“Very simple. Swear in the name of the Deity God that you believe in – even now, I cannot be certain if you believe in The Almighty. However, I hope that you can swear in the name of the Deity God that you believe in. Swear that you hold no other intentions. Swear that you would not do anything against the Duke of Normandy! Swear that you are truly on our side. Swear that you have no desire to do anything bad to us!” Merlin stared intently at Chen Xiaolian.

Swear?

Chen Xiaolian sneered inwardly.

Swear to God?

Stop joking around! This is an instance dungeon! This world is just something that the Development Team created.

The God of this world… is also their creation.

“Of course I can!”

Chen Xiaolian did not hesitate. He turned to face the entrance of the tent and knelt down with one knee on the ground.

“I swear to God…”

“No! I do not know if you truly believe in The Almighty,” Merlin said coldly and continued, “You must swear in the name of the Deity God you believe in.”

“… all right!” Chen Xiaolian turned his head around to look at Merlin before turning back.

“I, Xiaolian swear in the name of the Deity God I believe in that I hold no intention of harming the great King William and my friend, Merlin. I make this oath with all my heart. The greatest wish in my heart is to help King William win this war and to help him become the King of all of England! If I harbour any other intentions, then let me fall to the depths of Hell!”

Merlin stared at Chen Xiaolian’s back.

There was a knife in his hand.

Chen Xiaolian had left his back completely exposed. He appeared to be completely defenceless.

Merlin said in a low voice, “Add in, in the future, you will not take any actions to harm me – I keep getting this feeling that you will kill me in the future.”

Chen Xiaolian muttered before saying loudly, “All right! I, Chen Xiaolian swear, from this moment onward, I will not take any actions to harm Merlin! If I ever violate this oath, then may I be cast down to Hell!”

As he said that, Chen Xiaolian thought to himself: I said from this moment onward, but not the past. When I killed Jack the Ripper in the London instance dungeon, that was the past; that cannot be counted.

After completing the oath, Chen Xiaolian straightened himself and turned to face Merlin. The expression on Merlin’s face seemed much better.

Humph, warlocks all have an odd temperament.

No wonder the people from the military are unwilling to associate with him.

However, that was not the end!

Merlin suddenly raised the knife up and made a light cut on his palm. Then, he handed the knife to Chen Xiaolian, indicating that he should make a light cut on his palm as well.

“What are you doing?”

“Blood oath. It is a soul contract in witchcraft,” said Merlin coldly.

Soul contract?

This powerful term was something that Chen Xiolian had written about in his own novels. And now, he finally got to witness it.

Without hesitating, he made a cut on his palm. Then, he shook hands with Merlin.

“When our blood comes together, the soul becomes the witness for the contract, the oath. If any violation against the contract occurs, the soul will be enveloped by Hell!” Merlin chanted those words.

Chen Xiaolian suddenly felt something from the part of his hand that was shaking Merlin’s hand. A faint burning sensation rose up from the cut area.

He subconsciously released his hand and discovered that the cut on his hand had been seemingly branded by hot iron and was blackened! As for the wound, it appeared to have healed!

“Is this… witchcraft?” Chen Xiaolian asked curiously.

“Naturally, this is a soul contract,” Merlin said coolly. “At present, I have used witchcraft to sign a soul contract with you. You must hold up our oath from earlier. Otherwise, you will be cursed. Additionally, this contract has connected both our souls. Unless one of us dies, this contract will never be unravelled! Additionally… according to this contract, you are not allowed to harm me!”

“When you put it that way, you are the one in the safest spot here.” Chen Xiaolian sneered.

Merlin shrugged and said, “That is needed for ‘what if’ situations. And now, I can trust you.”

At that instant, Chen Xiaolian suddenly received a prompt from the system.

[System prompt: You have signed a soul contract with an important storyline character, Merlin, establishing a soul powered link and thereby obtaining Merlin’s trust.

[Authorization to utilize marks now activated!]

Authorization… utilize marks?

Chen Xiaolian’s heart gave a thump.

…

As Chen Xiaolian was lost in thought, Merlin waved his hand and said, “You may leave, Mr Xiaolian. I still have to complete this potion.

“As for your suggestion of killing off Harold in the battlefield… I will tell William about your suggestion. Then… in tomorrow’s battle, we might arrange to have your 100-man team… ah, your Manchester United team as a vanguard in the attacking force!

“I hope you can… create a miracle!

“For now, please go out.”

Chen Xiaolian was in no mood to put up an argument against Merlin’s rudeness.

He quickly left Merlin’s tent. Once he was outside, he carefully looked over the system prompt.

Utilize marks?

1 Pigsy (Journey to the West) inverts his rake to strike his opponent. Someone is accusing you of something. But, without denying that charge, you instead slap that person with an unfounded accusation.↩