In the desert, the Sun cast a long Shadow from Mephisto, who was leaning on a gentleman's cane.
However, the Shadow reflected on the ground revealed a Greater Demon with ram horns.
"Cooperating with a Greater Demon? I don't want to sell my soul to you at some point!"
"Besides, if we're talking cooperation, only sending a mere clone shows a lack of sincerity!"
Shen Mu knew that Mephisto couldn't descend to Earth in his true form right now, so he deliberately used his words to corner him.
Apparently, old Mephisto knew it too, but there wasn't even a hint of change in his expression.
"From an essential standpoint, Dragons and Greater Demons are quite similar; in the eyes of Earthlings, they are both embodiments of evil. As an anomaly descending to Earth, you need an ally."
"The commotion from your awakening Sun God Power was not small. Besides me, many other Greater Demons in Hell have their eyes on you, and even greater beings in the Universe beyond me have focused their gaze upon you."
"As long as you sign a contract with me, I will help you withstand the pressure from the Hell Dimension, and you only need to do one thing for me."
As a Greater Demon who had tempted countless souls to fall, Mephisto naturally knew that things needed to be taken one step at a time.
As long as he could sign a contract with Shen Mu first, Shen Mu would naturally bear his mark.
Then, even if other Hell Lords wanted to intervene, they would have to consider whether they could bear the consequences of breaking the rules jointly established by the various Hell Lords of the entire Hell Dimension.
"That sounds good, but I wonder what kind of matter even you, a Greater Demon, couldn't accomplish."
"You can tell me."
Although Shen Mu had no intention of signing a contract with Mephisto, he didn't mind hearing what this old Greater Demon wanted to do.
"Over a hundred years ago, a fellow who signed a soul contract with me betrayed me and stole a contract from my hands. I want you to find him for me and retrieve the contract."
Mephisto was referring to the previous Ghost Rider he created.
His real name was Carter Slade, originally a Texas Police officer.
However, he was not a good Police officer; instead, he was involved in corruption and bribery, doing all sorts of evil, and was eventually arrested and imprisoned after being reported.
After a trial, he was sentenced to hanging, and just as he was about to be executed, Mephisto appeared!
He tempted the dying man to sign a contract with him, then merged the Spirit of Vengeance into his body.
From then on, he became Mephisto's puppet, working for him for decades.
Mephisto had been secretly plotting a major event.
He once transformed into a missionary and went to a village called Venganza, spending hundreds of years to brainwash all the villagers into the purest Saints.
This made them all possess pure souls, capable of ascending to Heaven and becoming Angels after death.
So, the original Venganza was renamed San Venganza.
However, Mephisto was not kindly sending a group of Angels to the Heaven Dimension.
When the faith of these people reached its peak, he secretly used a trick in the village, causing the villagers to misunderstand and kill his missionary clone.
After that, the villagers could no longer hear the holy word, nor could they summon divine miracles.
They believed that their foolish actions had angered the Lord, so they all began to pray incessantly, completely falling into Madness.
At this moment, Mephisto finally revealed his true colors; he tempted these villagers to sign a contract with him, which was called atonement but was actually selling their souls.
After signing the contract with Mephisto, these thousands of holy souls gradually degenerated into the most evil beings.
This matter immediately caught the attention of the Heaven Dimension, so they sent an Angel to stop Mephisto.
However, the fallen souls could no longer be restored, and the contract of san venganza, which contained the souls of those thousands of fallen ones, was sealed on Earth because it was too evil to be taken to Heaven.
But Mephisto was not reconciled; however, with the power of his clone, he could not break through the seal set by the Angel.
That's why he sought out Carter Slade, who had become the Ghost Rider, to help him retrieve the contract.
However, what he never expected was that Carter, whom he thought was irredeemably fallen, had rediscovered his conscience through continuous judgment.
After learning about the immense evil contained in the contract of san venganza, Carter did not hand it over to Mephisto but chose to take it and hide it.
Due to the cover of the holy ground, although Mephisto controlled Carter Slade's soul, he was always unable to locate Carter, who had never transformed again.
"The dignified Hell Lord Mephisto was actually fooled by his own contractor, hahahaha!"
Shen Mu laughed mercilessly; he already knew what Mephisto wanted him to find—the contract of san venganza.
But thinking of the original ending, Shen Mu couldn't help but want to laugh.
Because the souls in that contract were originally what Mephisto intended to use to open a path between the Human and Hell Dimensions, but they were all devoured by Blackheart!
Then he left himself a fatal weakness, allowing the Ghost Rider to burn him to ashes with a Penance Stare.
Not only did he lose his own life, but his father's millennia of schemes also came to nothing.
"Mephisto has a good son!"
This was Shen Mu's most direct feeling.
"That damned traitor, that thief, once you find him, I will make his soul suffer the torment of Hell Fire forever."
Mephisto seemed unable to maintain his gentlemanly expression at this moment, instead speaking with a somewhat gritted teeth.
However, upon seeing Shen Mu seemingly genuinely mocking him for this matter, a strange smile flashed across the corner of his mouth.
He was deliberately using this method of revealing his own past to make Shen Mu relax his guard, believing that this Greater Demon was nothing special.
This way, Shen Mu would gradually fall into the trap he wove.
However, he was a little mistaken; Shen Mu, with his foresight, already knew what kind of person he was.
Therefore, even with Mephisto's self-exposure, it could not shake Shen Mu's determination not to sign a contract with him.
"What do you think of this condition?"
"I imagine you wouldn't want other Hell Lords to come around and cause you unnecessary trouble, would you?"
Mephisto's words carried magic, enticing Shen Mu.
[Ding! Unknown power is eroding the host's brain. The System is at risk of exposure. Initiating self-defense function. Clearing abnormal power. Clearing successful.]
Before Shen Mu could react, the System suddenly sent him a notification.
Immediately, Shen Mu knew that the Greater Demon in front of him was playing tricks. His eyes turned crimson, and two terrifying heat visions carrying Sun God Power directly blasted Mephisto's body.
In an instant, Mephisto's clone was quickly incinerated by the heat vision.
"I will come back for you. At that time, your body will surely be at my command."
The Hell Lord still uttered a fierce threat.
"Pah! Lusting after my body, you despicable demon."
Shen Mu learned his lesson; in the future, when encountering Greater Demons, he shouldn't listen to their chatter but act directly when necessary.