Lu Zhen looked at the book with an expressionless face while using his five senses to carefully observe the girl.

The white-haired girl stared at Lu Zhen with a frown.

Time passed as Lu Zhen tried to understand the book, and the girl simply watched him.

Finally, after a long time, she opened her mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"How can you be alive even after getting infected by it? Even with the ancient martial physique, there is no way you can reach that realm so easily," the girl stated, her disbelief evident in her eyes.

Lu Zhen finally put down the book with an expressionless face and started to select another book. However, unlike before, he carefully examined all the books with his golden eyes. When his eyes lit up, he thought to himself, "Finally, I've got one."

"I should have done this previously as well," he thought, his expression turning bitter as he took the book in his hands. Upon seeing this book, the white-haired girl's eyes widened.

"Does he really know our language?" she thought to herself, feeling somewhat uncertain. However, it was quite possible, as the mage language was nothing special. It had been lost in time after the destruction of the mages, but some of it might have survived to this day.

Her fist tightened as she considered this. With determination, she looked at Lu Zhen and thought, "I need his help very badly right now."

Lu Zhen paid no attention to the girl's stare as he focused on the book.

The front page of the book displayed a title in bold letters: "Encyclopedia of the Curse Elixir."

"So, these infected-like things must be a curse elixir?" Lu Zhen wondered curiously. He opened the book and examined the front page, which resembled a table of contents with the names of various elixirs and brief descriptions of their effects.

"How neatly organised," Lu Zhen mused to himself, unable to suppress his wonder about the level of advancement during the mage era, which appeared to surpass his previous world.

He found a word that excited him even more: "Harmony Sapping Scarlet Essence." His eyes lit up as he quickly turned to the page, carefully reading every word.

Lu Zhen's expression shifted from happiness at first to something more peculiar as he reached the end of the passage. He sighed and closed the book.

"So, do you know..." The girl's voice interrupted his thoughts. Lu Zhen closed his book and looked at her with narrowed eyes, releasing his aura.

A heavy atmosphere settled in the air, making it difficult for the girl to draw a full breath inside her cage. The room seemed to tremble as cracks formed in the glass tubes, creating the illusion of an earthquake shaking the chamber.

The girl sweated profusely, her mind clouded by the overwhelming and terrifying aura of impending doom. She felt a pressing weight bearing down on her.

"Not bad. My aura seems to have increased in strength again," Lu Zhen noted, his recent leveling up of the divine physique contributing to this newfound power.

The girl, still inhabiting her servant's body, couldn't help but wonder why this man was so intimidating. She realized that his aura had an underlying hint of killing intent, yet it resonated with another quality she couldn't quite place.

"It has a strange resonance, too. Strength?" Her current form was far from powerful, even with the boost from her possession. Lu Zhen's aura suppressed her, and she felt dwarfed by his presence.

"Even if you know the cure, you'll still need my help to be healed. After all, only a mage can cure you," the girl remarked with a strange smirk on her face.

Lu Zhen frowned upon hearing the girl's explanation. Her words were consistent with what he had learned about the curse – it required the infusion of mana into the body for a cure.

"This curse is indeed peculiar," the girl continued, exuding confidence. "It was rare in the mage world, considering most people were mages. However, in this world, it's considered a potent poison, especially for martial artists like you. Your high resistance to common poisons developed in the mage era doesn't help."

Lu Zhen processed this information and was already feeling the effects of the curse. His head was spinning.

"But," the girl continued, "this curse can only be cured through the consumption of mana fruits or by becoming a mage, neither of which is feasible in this era."

"How interesting," Lu Zhen thought, his mind calculating how to navigate this dire situation, even as his dizziness increased.

"So, will you accept my offer?" the girl inquired.

"What do you want in return?" Lu Zhen asked, trying to understand her terms.

"I want your assistance in obtaining a suitable body for my possession," she explained.

Lu Zhen raised an eyebrow. "Can't you find one yourself?"

"No," she replied. "I need a living, first-stage martial artist body to revive myself."

"Hmm, why me then?" Lu Zhen inquired, genuinely curious about the girl's choice.

"Because you possess the ancient martial physique," she explained. "My best chance of reviving myself is to rely on you." Her expression conveyed that this was the most logical choice.

"You really overestimate me," Lu Zhen chuckled.

"Looking at you, you must be very close to a second-stage martial artist, so..." the girl said with shining eyes.

"Okay, I agree," he said after a moment of thought.

The girl reached out, and a paper appeared out of thin air in her hands. She handed it to Lu Zhen, who tentatively approached the cage and accepted the paper.

"Hmm," Lu Zhen murmured as he examined the contract carefully. The first page bore bold letters and simple words: Blood Contract.

"Eh a contract…"

"Do you think words will give any validation?" she sneered.

Lu Zhen continued flipping through the pages of the contract. The language was unknown to him, but strangely, he comprehended the essence of the document even without using his Appraisal skill.