Villain Cultivator

First, Minghe had no obligation to help Miaomiao, and Miaomiao could decline Ancestor Minghe\'s requests during the contract period.

This was a bad premise since Minghe had promised a hundred years of a grace period. Now, the contract said otherwise.

Secondly, once the 100-year period was over and Miaomiao failed to become an Immortal Saint or an immortal with equal status, Minghe would claim ownership of Miaomiao\'s soul!

This was also a clear red flag. It was enough to discourage Miaomiao not to sign this contract.

The third one was even worse. In the case that Miaomiao managed to satisfy Minghe\'s goal, Miaomiao\'s status would be promoted to an official [Pawn] of Minghe, and Miaomiao must serve the Heavenly Dao.

Everything was different from what they had agreed upon!

Miaomiao scoffed. He grabbed the paper and tore it right in front of the boatman.

"Are you insane? Do you realize the strength disparity between a sage and a feeble mortal? If Lord Minghe wants to, he can delete your existence!"

"I know as much."

"And you will not be able to get a second chance like Devil or Kishin Douji. Your soul will not be transferred over to the next game!"

"…"

The blackmail was no joke. Miaomiao was aware that he couldn\'t afford to offend a sage at the moment.

However, he had no choice. Had he never objected or declined Minghe\'s slavery contract, Miaomiao would have been stuck as a sage\'s pawn for the rest of eternity!

Eternity!

That was not a laughing matter.

Devil suffered through 25 million loops, and each turn was as long as the current age of this timeline. He was a good example of eternal suffering, and Miaomiao never wanted to follow in his footsteps!

"Rewrite the contract. If you can\'t satisfy me, I\'ll surrender myself to the Heavenly Dao of Zenith Heaven. Then, none of the sage can control me but the Heavenly Dao itself!"

"You…"

The faceless boatman clenched his trembling fists. A few seconds later, he grabbed a transparent karma string nearby.

The boatman cut it, and the moon above the Golden Heavenly Goose Planet was erased. Furthermore, several immortals, who had been staying on the surface of the moon, were deleted along with the karma string of existence.

He simply deleted everything on the moon as a warning!

A new contract paper appeared, but the clauses were still the same.

"Sign the contract. If you insist on playing hard to get, I\'ll erase you!"

"…"

Miaomiao\'s bluff failed, and the boatman raised. Now, he was in trouble.

Miaomiao took a deep breath. He raised both hands in surrender, but his eyes were looking at a certain karma thread.

"Alright. I\'ll sign the contract. That was a misunderstanding, okay?"

"Ha! A non-entity like you is in no position of threatening us! Now, extract your blood essence and put it on the paper!"

"Where should I put it?"

"Anywhere!"

"…"

Miaomiao raised his eyebrows. Strangely, his right eyebrow was so calm that Miaomiao thought it was sleeping. Even when Miaomiao touched the contract paper, it didn\'t react.

But when Miaomiao bit the tip of his thumb to extract his blood, the eyebrow sensor started working again.

\'I see. I\'m not in danger if I play around, but I\'ll be dead if I sign the contract. What to do? Hmm.\'

Miaomiao already had several ideas about what to do, but he hesitated, wondering which choice he should take.

After dawdling, playing with his fingers, Miaomiao healed the wound on his thumb and grabbed a string of karma, which connected to his dantian, Totem Cores, and other Dao Sentinels.

Miaomiao had already inspected it. This karma belonged to the creator of the cultivation technique that he had been using. It was the karma of benevolence.

Currently, Miaomiao owed Adam a favor since he used the latter\'s cultivation method without permission. Therefore, a portion of Miaomiao\'s Providence, which had yet to be awakened, would be transferred to Adam as a price for the favor.

However, Miaomiao had no intention of cutting it. Instead, he wanted to ask Adam for another favor.

Miaomiao transferred his thoughts and a bit of his memory to Adam via the karma string!

"Say, Mr. Boatman."

"What?"

"I\'m wondering. Who created prototype war marionettes?"

"You don\'t need to know."

"Is he a sage as well?"

"If he is, what can you do with that information? Anyway, stop wasting my time and sign the contract already!"

"Okay! But I have another question," Miaomiao snickered as he sensed the feedback from the karma string.

The boatman groaned. He waved his hand, "Just ask. Last question, alright?"

"Cool. The question is… What kind of chess piece is Adam?"

"!!!"

Although the boatman had no face, the wrinkles on his head were enough to tell that he was surprised. No mortal should have learned this piece of classified information!

The boatman read the karma threads of Miaomiao right away. Then, he discovered that he made a contact with Kishin Douji\'s servant, who was also aware of sages and their little games.

Enraged, the boatman seized Miaomiao\'s karma thread of existence, "You asked for it!!"

"…"

Miaomiao closed his eyes and only prayed that his gamble would work. He felt like he played a Texas-hold\'em poker game, and he shoved his chips all-in with seven-deuce.

Ding

Yup, plot armor was still a thing.

Miaomiao slowly opened his eyes and discovered a shining silhouette of a tall man in front of him, standing face-to-face with the boatman.

He had blond long hair that reached his back. His toned physique was that of a professional model, and his long ears were similar to anime elves.

The fancy plate armor of the blond elf was decorated with red jewels. Yet, it leaked a faint aura of Providence Qi of a deity. The diamond crown on his head stood out as well as it continuously activated a small soul domain around the elf.

Even though Miaomiao couldn\'t see his face, he knew that the guy might be one hell of a handsome dude.

"ADAM!!"

The boatman seemed nervous.

Adam, the mysterious war marionette, who appeared to be a high-elf, smirked at the boatman, "River Styx Sovereign, stand down. This boy belongs to me."

"Brat, Mao Miaomiao will sign a pawn contract with Ancestor Minghe! A chess piece like you has no right to interfere!"

"Of course, I do! As the King Piece and the representative of Mother Nuwa, I can point out or report a law-breaking sage if I ever find one!"

"D-Did she give you that authority?!" The boatman seemed terrified.

"Hah! If I remember correctly, hasn\'t the draft period ended already? The next draft should be in a hundred years, and you have no right to recruit a new chess piece."

"T-This is a mercenary contract! It has nothing to do with the chess game!"

"Of course, it does. Again, if my memory serves me right, no sage is allowed to communicate directly with the NPCs, no matter if they are mortals, immortals, or deities. Even fiends, beasts, monsters, demons, or whatever abominations! Also, no contract other than chess piece contracts is allowed!"

Miaomiao nodded in agreement. If what CJ said was the truth, Minghe had broken several rules here.

He proactively interfered with worldly affairs, which was already a severe offense. Had the other sages learned about this, they would have not stayed still.

It was a good decision to get Adam involved.

However, Miaomiao was also surprised by Adam\'s capabilities. The boatman was using the power of time, but Adam freely entered the time domain with ease.

He seemed strong. He might even be stronger than Devil.

Miaomiao could only pray that his personality and character wouldn\'t be as terrible as Devil or other villains.

Meanwhile, the boatman\'s body trembled in fear. He wasn\'t afraid of Adam, but he was wary of someone else.

Adam sneered and rubbed his chin, "Should I call my mother and let her know about your little misdeed?"

"Tsk! Even if you\'re pampered by that bitch, a non-entity like you can be instantly erased and replaced. We\'ll erase all your memory in the next game! Then, you and your bitch mother won\'t have a chance to create a single civilization!"

"Pfft. I\'ve already mastered Karma Providence Law and Spacetime Providence Law. I also inherited memory of my predecessors and my counterparts from the other timelines. Go ahead and try. I dare you."

"WHAT?!"

Not only the boatman was shocked, but Miaomiao was also dumbfounded.

Breaking News, Devil and Kishin Douji were not the only time travelers!

Adam snickered and proceeded to add salt to the wound, "This is what you get for suppressing my mother for so many games. Now that she has succeeded cultivating me, it won\'t be long before I become a sage and payback for the past humiliation a thousand folds!"

A wooden bow suddenly manifested in Adam\'s hands. He grabbed it, pulled the string, and aimed at the boatman even though he had no arrow.

"Now, scram, dog of Minghe. I don\'t mind starting a war with Kishin Douji and the Asura Race right now! When the war starts, I\'ll report today\'s event to every sage! Let\'s see how Minghe can survive in this game and next games!"

The boatman accidentally broke an oar. He grudgingly turned around and took back the contract paper. He slowly navigated his boat away.

"You will regret this."

"Nah, you started it. This is the only beginning of the true retribution."

"…"

The boatman disappeared. However, the frozen time domain was still active.

The high-elf, Adam, turned around, showing his face to Miaomiao for the first time.

As Miaomiao had expected, this war marionette was a beautiful elf. He was neither feminine nor masculine, but his face and skin were flawless.

It was strange. Adam in the myth was supposed to be the first human. Yet, in this world, he was an elf.

Miaomiao lowered his head, "Thank you for saving me, senior."

Adam snickered, "You\'re playing a dangerous game, junior."

"I have no choice."

"I can tell. Whoever mastered the Law of Karma always got into trouble. Even my counterparts in early timelines were erased because they were too talented."

"…"

Miaomiao took note of Adam\'s words. He would look into the detail later to find out about the past events.

While Miaomiao was distracted, Adam leaned closer and inspected Miaomiao\'s archangel appearance.

"I must say, Devil is terrible at raising you. Look at your soul! I can even sense several useless curses in there. What can it possibly do when all sages can just impart the previous timeline\'s memory to their king pieces. Haiz, he\'s still as dumb as ever."

"Curses?"

Adam\'s presence grew larger as he kept unveiling secrets after secrets. Obviously, Xie Tian\'s master wouldn\'t be simple.

But still, the knowledge of previous timelines complicated many things. Now, it worried Miaomiao.

Too many people knew about the past, and he could no longer exploit it!

Miaomiao redrew his plan for the next [game]. He might have to pick a side to form an alliance. In the worst-case scenarios, he might even have to submit to the Heavenly Dao to protect himself.

Adam\'s read Miaomiao\'s expression and grinned. He patted the latter\'s head, "I can tell that you\'re frustrated. Well, since you\'re bold enough to summon me with the power of karma, I\'ll put a good word to my mother and have her enlist you to her ranks."

"… Err," Miaomiao hesitated when Adam showed interest in recruiting him to his faction. He still valued his little freedom.

PA

Miaomiao smacked his forehead. He recalled that he had been acting like a typical protagonist for a while.

Would serving other sages be as bad as serving Minghe? Probably not.

However, Miaomiao needed to liberate himself from the Heavenly Dao\'s shackles. He couldn\'t possibly become a tool for the strange power of this universe right now.

Again, Adam read Miaomiao\'s mind and laughed, "Hahaha! You are the same as Xie Tian. Well, all of them have the same reaction as you. They refused to serve Heavenly Dao, and they pursued the Dao of Freedom. Unfortunately, the sages ruined their plans every time."

"Could you tell me more about sages?"

"As much as I want to, but no. I can\'t share too many stories to outsiders, or my mother will be pissed."

"…"

"But since you have offended Minghe and River Styx Sovereign, how about you come with me.. Oh, wait. You\'ve comprehended a cultivation method that I taught Xie Tian in the other timelines, so you\'re technically my disciple… Hey, how about this? Be my official disciple! Join my Eden Garden Sect!"