Chapter 138: Altar of the forest

The old man was none other than the master of the beast mountain, Fionk. He looked at his grand disciples with a serious expression as he waited for them to finish their words.

"The armoured fire crocodile with the 69 number on its tail formed a contract with an outer sect disciple and left the beast mountain,"

Gregor looked at his master Elder Strauss for a moment before replying to his grandmaster.

"Are you saying that truth?"

The old man with the white beard became excited as his previous serious face disappeared without a trace.

"Huh? Master, aren't you angry?"

Before his grand disciples could reply to him, his disciple asked with a puzzled look on his face.

'Slap'

"Why would I be angry regarding it? It is the first good thing that happened to us in a long time,"

Fionk slapped both his disciples as he replied with a smile on his face.

"But the armoured fire crocodile is left the beast mountain and your ambition will be delayed,"

Elder Strauss rubbed the back of his head as he asked his master.

'Why am I always getting free slaps?' As for the Elder Franz, he silently lamented for receiving free slaps even when he remained silent.

"Idiots... a bunch of fools. What is there in your heads and what did you know about my goals?" The old man scoffed at his disciples before saying, "The armoured fire crocodile is following the exact same thing that the baby fire monkey did. So, what did you understand from it?"

After scolding them for a second, he explained something and asked what they understood from it.

"..."

Elder Strauss and Elder Filip both looked at each other's faces first and then looked at their master's face before bitterly shaking their heads.

As for Gregor and Filip, they were feeling funny looking at their master's pitiful state in front of their grandmaster; however, they didn't show it on their faces.

"The baby fire monkey must have awakened the memories of beasts that I integrated with it regarding the forceful contract and their benefits. So, it must have spread it to all the beasts I have brought from the 'Altar of the forest',"

The old man shook his head at his disciples before saying to his disciples.

"So, the 'Ancient forceful contract' that you have been saying to us is finally awakened?"

"Moreover, it is known to all the beasts from that place 'Altar of the forest'?"

When their master clearly explained the reason behind his happiness, they were shocked and excited at the same time. 

"Yes. Moreover, the baby fire monkey must have awakened the memories of forceful contract in the other beasts from the 'Altar of the forest'. So, the armoured fire crocodile formed a forceful contract with the outer sect disciple," the old man slowly started guessing what the baby fire monkey had done to the other beasts.

"Grandmaster, you only used the word 'Forceful contract' but you never explained it to us. What does that mean actually?" 

Gregor mustered his courage as he asked Fionk about the 'Forceful contract'.

He had heard that term many times but when he asked his master about it, he himself didn't know about it. So, he mustered his courage and asked it.

"I didn't even tell it to my disciples so far; however, it is time to tell what it is and what are its benefits,"

The old man revealed a small smile looking at his grand disciples and started explaining, "'Forceful contract' as the name suggests, it is a contract that is forcefully made by some special beasts. You might wonder what is so special about this 'Forceful contract'? After forming a forceful contract, the owner of the tamed beast will also progress in his cultivation along with his tamed beast," The old man took a small pause to allow his disciples and grand disciples to understand what he was saying.

"What?"

"Tamed beast will help a cultivator progress in their cultivation?"

Everyone in front of the old Fionk was shocked to learn such a new thing about the forceful contract.

Generally, similar situations like a beast forcefully forming a contract with a cultivator happened many times; however, until now, they thought forceful contracts by the beasts were nothing special.

But, everything changed now and they were eager to try their look at the special beasts at the forceful contract.

Who would be not excited to have a tamed beast that would help them progress their cultivation? If they were not excited then there must be something wrong with them.

"What are you excited about? You both have no use because you have already crossed the threshold age. Even if you try, no beast will choose you as their master...Haha," the old Fonk mocked his disciples with a loud laugh.

"What?"

"Then? Why did you work so hard so far?"

Both of his disciples received another shock from their master as they hurriedly asked about why he was so excited earlier and why he worked so hard for many months.

"It is for your disciples and all the disciples of the beast mountain below the age of 20 as it was the prime age and their cultivation should be below energy condensation realm,"

Soon, the old man Fionk explained the conditions to be fulfilled for the forceful contract.

"So, there is no way we can benefit from it?"

Both the middle-aged men looked at their master and asked with disappointed looks on their faces.

"Why are you depressed? You are already very strong," The old man Fionk slapped their heads once again as he continued, "However, it is good for your disciples."

"We will try our best, grandmaster,"

Gregor and Filip hurriedly nodded their heads at their grandmaster.

"It's finally time for the disciples from the beast mountain to test their luck with the beasts from 'Altar of the forest'. I hope they can convince the beasts and make them forcefully contract,"

Soon, the old man's expression became serious and asked his disciples, "Make sure nothing goes wrong with it and I need at least 10 successful forceful contracts. I have something to take care of. So, I want your absolute best."

After finishing his words, the old man rushed towards a specific direction while muttering, "It must have already reached there. Once I have a nice talk with it, then I will find some answers to my questions."

"Looks like master is going for the baby fire monkey,"

"Yes. I wonder why he was so sure that the baby fire monkey would visit the beast mountain after going through everything,"

Seeing their master running in a specific direction, the middle-aged men shook their heads at their master's beliefs.

"Anyway, let's not mess up with this 'Forceful contract' event," Elder Franz looked at the Elder Strauss first and then looked at their disciples before saying, "Go and ring the emergency bell. I  want everyone to gather here within 5 minutes."

"Yes, master,"

Gregor and Filip nodded their head before running away to ring the emergency bell.

An emergency bell is used to summon the disciples if there is something important. So, without any hesitation, both the disciples ran to ring the bell.

"Franz, I will go and inform the outer sect leader Gamos that we will be closing the entrance of the beast mountain tomorrow. Inform all the disciples that they have to be ready by 6 am in the morning,"

Elder Strauss decided to shut off the beast mountain because the event was going to be a huge thing for the beast mountain. So, he didn't want any disturbance from the outer sect disciples.

"Yes, senior brother. I will take care," Elder Franz nodded his head.

'Ding ding ding'

Soon, they heard the bell sound from a distance.

After hearing the bell sound, the Elder Strauss rushed down the beast mountain.

'Huh? Isn't that the emergency bell?'

"Yes, let's go. If we go late, then we will be punished,"

"I wonder what is the emergency,"

"I hope it should be related to something good,"

Hearing the bell sound all the beast mountain's disciples were in a frenzy as they hurriedly rushed towards the emergency bell.

Soon, a meeting started at the top of the beast mountain which was led by Elder Franz.

...

Somewhere in the beast mountain,

"Damn these beasts.."

"They are coming without giving me a gap"

"Looks like I need to hide my presence,"

The Curator in the torn outer sect uniform heavily panted as he killed many beasts; however, no matter how many he killed, the beasts were endlessly coming at him.

So, without wasting any time, he used a secret technique to hide his presence and started following the scent of his son's killer.

"I will kill you today no matter what,"

As he moved forwards, he sensed that the killer of his son was closed to him and swore to kill him today.

"So, here you are," 

After moving around for a few minutes, the demonic cultivator finally found the killer of his son and revealed a cruel smile.

'Huh?'

However, when he saw who was the killer, he was shocked.

'A fire monkey? It is just a baby,'

He had never expected that his son's killer was a small baby fire monkey that was staring at a huge monkey's statue in front of it.

'What? This baby fire monkey is a rank 3 beast?' All of a sudden, he was shocked to see that the small baby fire monkey was having a cultivation of rank 3 and all his doubts were cleared because his son had no way of beating a rank 3 beast.