As Steve completed the last hand seal, a screen over a meter wide appeared before him.
A skeleton in armor materialized on the screen.
"Human, have you decided to form a contract with me?"
Steve smiled gently. "Venerable Reno, you are too powerful. Even if I form a contract with you, my mental energy might not be enough to sustain your descent into our world. Why don't you let your subordinate form a contract with me first? He can help me become stronger, and then I'll be able to contract with you."
"Heh heh!"
The soul fire in Reno's eyes flickered. "You've got a good plan. Very well, I'll let my subordinate contract with you first."
With that, he summoned a skeleton holding a bone knife in one hand and a shield in the other.
Steve then recited an incantation.
A white light rapidly connected him and the skeleton.
Then, a mystical symbol formed from the void, split into two, and flew into Steve and the skeleton respectively.
"I hope you can form a contract with me soon. My immense power will surely help you reach the peak then."
Reno said leisurely and voluntarily closed the screen.
Steve ignored the vanished Reno and quickly formed hand seals.
The skeleton that had been holding the shield then appeared before him out of thin air.
"Hahaha, it worked. King Qin An, just you wait. I'll catch up to you soon."
Feeling the immensely powerful skeleton before him, Steve declared with great ambition.
He then experimented, and indeed, absorbing soul power after killing mutated beasts allowed the skeleton to feed a portion back to him.
With the soul power fed back by the contracted spirit, Steve's soul was slightly strengthened, and his mental energy also increased.
The soul of a Silver-tier mutated beast, though it didn't cause a significant change in his strength, the Platinum-tier skeleton subordinate could kill mutated beasts much faster than he could.
Little by little, Steve's strength increased without slowing down.
The only thing limiting his leveling speed was his mental energy, which couldn't support the skeleton subordinate's prolonged presence on Blue Star.
Absorbing the waves of soul power from his skeleton subordinate, Steve began to envision the glorious days to come, leading an army of skeletons to conquer Blue Star.
"It seems like it's time to go to Great Xia and force King Qin An to reveal how his cultivation has improved so rapidly."
...
More than ten days later.
Qin Shilei and his group finally entered the territory of the United States.
Not far ahead of them was a city protected by walls.
"Shall we go down and ask for directions?"
Qin Shilei said, then took Kong Qingshu's left hand and flew forward.
The Golden-winged Thunder Roc's massive body had already attracted the attention of the city guards.
As Qin Shilei flew closer, sharp alarms blared, and the guards on the city walls raised their weapons, looking at Qin Shilei with caution.
A burly white man, holding a long saber, shouted, "Who goes there? State your identity immediately."
Qin Shilei completely ignored the volleys of arrows, ice bolts, and fireballs poised on the city walls, and calmly flew in front of the burly man.
"Put away your weapons. I just want to ask for directions."
He then glanced at everyone.
Instantly, they felt as if they were being stared at by a ferocious beast, and a chill ran down their spines.
The burly man, who was the focus of his gaze, took two steps back, almost falling to his knees.
Qin Shilei retracted his aura and calmly asked, "Where is Steve's city, how far is it from here, and how do I get there?"
Perhaps feeling that his previous retreat had made him lose face in front of his subordinates,
The burly man said with feigned ferocity, "You lowly East Asian, don't be so arrogant. Our city's Golden-tier experts will be here soon, and you'll be in big trouble then."
"Hmph!"
Qin Shilei flashed beside the man and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up.
As the burly man was about to kick Qin Shilei, he felt a strong electric current from the other's hand, instantly paralyzing him.
Qin Shilei threw him down lightly.
"If you don't answer me within three seconds, you die."
"Cough cough!"
The burly man coughed twice and quickly pointed south with his hand. "If you're asking about the United States' top expert, he's in Fulan City, more than a thousand kilometers south of here."
Just then, three figures flew out from the city.
The middle-aged man flying in the center, upon seeing his subordinate on the ground and Qin Shilei being an East Asian,
He shouted from a distance, "How dare you cause trouble on my territory! Annihilate him!"
With that, he raised his weapon and was about to charge at Qin Shilei.
However, his left hand was held firmly by his companion.
"City Lord, wait. That person looks like King Qin An!"
The middle-aged man stared intently at Qin Shilei, then at Kong Qingshu.
"Could this person really be King Qin An and his wife?"
He quickly retreated more than ten meters and asked his two companions with trepidation.
In his eyes, all East Asians looked alike, and he couldn't immediately distinguish if the other person was King Qin An.
"Isn't King Qin An supposed to be hundreds of thousands of kilometers away in Great Xia? Why is he suddenly appearing here?"
Another Golden-tier expert blinked and looked at Qin Shilei again, asking with some confusion.
Qin Shilei moved instantly, appearing before the three of them.
"Do you know Steve?"
Their astonishing speed made the three realize that even if this person wasn't King Qin An, he was an incomparably powerful expert far beyond them.
The middle-aged man immediately showed a smile and replied obsequiously, "Sir, we've all heard of Steve, but we haven't seen him."
Qin Shilei calmly ordered, "Immediately bring me a map and draw the route to Fulan City."
"Sir, I have a map here."
The middle-aged man quickly took out a map from his spatial ring, drew two circles on it, and connected the circles with a straight line.
"Sir, flying about seventeen to eighteen hundred kilometers south from here should lead you to Fulan City."
Qin Shilei took the map, looked at it, and then put it into his spatial ring.
He then looked up at the middle-aged man and asked with a half-smile, "Didn't you just say you were going to annihilate me? I permit you to call all your subordinates here."
Hearing this, cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of the three.
They bent their waists at a ninety-degree angle and trembled, begging for mercy. "Sir, spare us! I must have been blinded by dog feces just now and failed to recognize your esteemed presence. My foul mouth offended you, please spare us."
As he spoke, the middle-aged man slapped himself hard on the face.
Seeing their city lord act this way, his two subordinates could only follow suit and slap themselves.
"Hmph!"
"Get out!"
Qin Shilei unleashed three kicks, instantly sending the few people flying dozens of meters down to the street.
The three were disoriented from the fall, but they were relieved that they had likely escaped with their lives.