Chapter 3: Massacre (Part 2)

The cavalry rushed into the town like a whirlwind. The scene before them was horrifying—blood everywhere, bodies torn to pieces. Guo Shier looked thoughtfully at the houses in the town. Then Luo Zhan said, “How could there be so many beasts? A town must have at least tens of thousands of people—were they all dead?”
Luo Jie and Qi Nanshan remained silent, merely observing. Guo Shier saw a hint of murderous intent in their eyes.
Huo Bao asked, “What kind of beasts did this? Could it be wildmen?”
Guo Shier replied calmly, “It was done by humans…”
Luo Jie asked, “Shier, why do you say it was humans and not beasts or wildmen?”
Guo Shier said, “If it were wildmen, they would need at least a thousand of them to wipe out an entire town. There can’t be that many wildmen here. Besides, if they did this, they wouldn’t waste so much meat!”
“If it were beasts, heh, have you seen any beast corpses? No matter how weak a town’s defenses are, there should be martial artists. No beast could invade the town unscathed, and besides, beasts don’t collect corpses…”
“Another point—look… the town was set on fire. I don’t think wildmen or beasts would deliberately set fires. So it must have been humans.”
Qi Nanshan showed a hint of surprise and said, “This kid thinks quite clearly.”
Luo Jie nodded in approval and said, “Indeed, it was humans… and they’re from the West Seal Sect!”
Guo Shier agreed, “That’s the only conclusion we can draw.”
Huo Bao was confused and asked, “Why would the West Seal Sect do this?”
Guo Shier simply said, “The West Seal Sect… is also known as the Beast Seal Sect.”
Huo Bao asked, “But… aren’t we going to the West Seal Sect? Why would they kill ordinary people?”
Guo Shier replied, “This is the territory of the North Seal Sect. They’re killing people from the North Seal Sect. This place is remote, and soon the bloodshed will attract many beasts. In less than ten days, it will be unrecognizable… Even if we assume it was the West Seal Sect, we can’t produce solid evidence unless we catch their people… which I think is difficult.”
Luo Jie said, “Shier is right…” Before he could finish, a flash appeared in the sky, followed by a dull thunderclap, and darkness fell quickly.
Qi Nanshan sighed, “Not to mention waiting ten days—this heavy rain will erase most of the traces.”

The pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the ground made a loud noise. Guo Shier raised his head and said, “It’s a downpour! We need to find a place to take shelter.” As soon as he finished speaking, the rain intensified even more, with a deafening roar. A talismanic glow appeared on everyone’s body—it was a rain-shielding talisman, though such talismans could only hold up for half an hour at most.

Luo Zhan shouted, “Follow me!”

They entered a large courtyard. There was a huge house there, and several talisman warriors quickly cleared the hall, allowing everyone to go inside.

Qi Nanshan selected four people and said, “You go outside to scout. The rest of you rest quickly. Shier, you five prepare food.”

Guo Shier nodded. “Okay, Xiao Hong, give me the talisman bag.”

Chen Hong silently untied a bag from her waist. Although she carried a talisman bag, she couldn’t use it unless she advanced to the level of a Talisman Warrior and gained sufficient combat strength to wield it freely.

Guo Shier took out two tripod pots from the bag. These pots had three legs and were made of silver-copper alloy, designed for use in the wild. There were slots at the bottom where disposable fire talismans could be inserted. With the guidance of the talismans at the bottom, cooking could be done without lighting a fire—just one disposable fire talisman was enough to cook a pot of meat.

Huo Bao went out to fetch water, while Hong Shi was in charge of chopping meat.

The two pots were filled with water simultaneously. Once it boiled, Guo Shier put in the bones and meat. There were also ingredients like scallions, ginger, and garlic, but locals rarely used them because they were materials for cooking talismanic food. Guo Shier had gathered quite a lot of them. He added the scallions and ginger, closed the pot lid, and said, “Xiao Hong, watch the pot. Once it boils, skim off the blood foam on the surface.”

Everyone brought their own bread. Guo Shier and the others only needed to cook two pots of meat soup; there was no need to worry about anything else. Guo Shier went over to Luo Jie, sat cross-legged, and asked, “Master, why did the People of the Beast Talisman Sect kill those people?”

Luo Jie shook his head. “Maybe it was for herding beasts…”

“Herding beasts?”

Qi Nanshan said, “It’s a secret technique of the People of the Beast Talisman Sect—herding spirit beasts. They specifically kill ordinary wild animals and humans to use their life force to strengthen their own spirits. This method is extremely cruel and has long been banned from use in human settlements.”

Guo Shier was incredulous. “What? There are actually such despicable things?”

Luo Jie said, “To be precise, this is a branch of the Western Talisman Gate, known as the Herding Talisman Gate. Even people from the Western Talisman Gate would expel them if they saw them. But members of this gate rarely appear; I remember they last showed up decades ago… Still, I’m not sure if this is their doing.”
Qi Nanshan said, “Elder, I think it’s definitely people from the Herding Talisman Gate!”
Luo Jie said, “Let’s leave after we finish eating. The smell of blood is too strong here.”
Everyone quickly finished eating and packing up. Luo Jie said, “Let’s go!” and stepped outside first. It was still pouring heavily outside, but the old man didn’t care at all. Guo Shier put on a thin oilskin raincoat before stepping out of the house. The heavy rain diluted the blood on the ground, with red liquid flowing everywhere, turning the entire town into a hellish place. He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—human lives here really didn’t count for much.
Braving the heavy rain, they continued on their journey. The rain was so intense that the horses slowed down.
Guo Shier accidentally noticed a strange bird in the sky, flying at an incredible speed, having crossed overhead twice already. He couldn’t help but say, “Master, it seems someone is following us.”
Luo Jie was surprised, “How come I don’t know anyone is following us?”
Guo Shier pointed at the sky and said, “That bird!”
The strange bird happened to cross overhead again. Luo Jie’s expression darkened. He said, “So there really is someone following us. Heh, Nanshan, it seems we need to take action.”
Qi Nanshan nodded silently, his murderous intent surging suddenly.
The road was quite wide, about fifty meters across, with low bushes on either side and tall forests in the distance. The view was good, allowing them to see far ahead. It was only the heavy rain that impaired their visibility.
Qi Nanshan sent four people ahead to scout, while the rest slowed down.
Guo Shier wiped the rain from his face and said, “Xiao Baozi, Shitou, Chen Bing, Xiao Hong—stay alert and watch out for any movements around us.”
Huo Bao and the others immediately grew nervous, starting to check their equipment and get rid of anything that might hinder their movement. Luo Jie glanced at them and nodded in satisfaction. It was necessary to stay vigilant to avoid panicking when something happened, as that could be fatal.

Guo Shier also began to gather the items on him. He sorted out his talismans and arranged the two precious talismans on his wrists—these were the only ones he could use. The other one-time-use attack talismans were not very powerful and could only be used for harassment, not to decide the outcome of a battle. Since he could craft talismans himself, ordinary apprentices would surely consider having that many one-time-use talismans to be incredibly fortunate.

According to Guo Shier’s plan, he intended to discard all his one-time-use attack talismans and switch to using precious talismans. However, precious talismans were rare and had to be forged by oneself. He currently only had a few books detailing their creation, mostly for low-level precious talismans—with a maximum activation level of three to six—useful only for single-target attacks.

Guo Shier wondered if he should ask his master for some books on creating mid-level precious talismans.

After a while, a horse rushed through the rain. Qi Nanshan spurred his horse forward and asked, “How is it? What’s the situation?”

“I saw quite a few people ahead blocking the road. I came back first to report. They’re still observing there.”

“Who are they?”

“It’s hard to tell… They all seem mysterious, dressed in black robes. Oh, right, a few of them are riding wild dragons.”

Luo Jie said, “Then there’s no doubt—they’re from the Mu Fu Gate! How many are there?”

“We saw about thirty, but there are probably many more.”

Luo Jie pondered for a moment before saying to Qi Nanshan, “Dashan, let’s go over there. If anything seems off, eliminate them immediately! Let’s go!” With that, he spurred his horse forward at full speed. He had sworn secretly in the small town to take revenge.

Qi Nanshan muttered, “Still so irritable at his age!” He rushed to Luo Jie’s side and shouted, “Old man, step back! You’re a great talisman master, not a great martial talisman master! I should launch the first wave of attacks! You brats, get ready for battle!”

The thundering sound of horse hooves couldn’t possibly go unnoticed. By the time Luo Jie and the others arrived, there were already hundreds of various wild beasts on the road. With strange whistling sounds, the beasts launched an attack. Those in black robes didn’t even speak to them—they simply ordered the beasts to attack those in front of them.

Luo Jie cursed, “Damn those things! They must have killed the people in the small town! Kill them all!”

But Guo Shier shouted, “Leave two alive!”

Luo Jie immediately realized what he meant and also shouted, “Leave two alive! The rest… kill! Kill! Kill!”

Qi Nanshan shouted, “Protect the old man! Don’t move around—watch me!” He leaped off his horse at incredible speed; his swift figure even left a white trail in the rain. Dozens of wild beasts, driven by his whistle, charged at Qi Nanshan. Then came his loud laughter, “Haha, die!” His body suddenly glowed, with countless phantom talismans swirling around him and rapidly forming into talisman armor. Soon, he charged straight into the herd of beasts. Suddenly, someone in the opposing group screamed, “Oh heavens! That’s a great Talisman Warrior! Run!” Luo Jie snorted, and his body slowly rose off the horse. He opened his mouth and spat, causing his life talisman books to appear in front of him, growing larger as they did. He said indifferently, “Where can they run?” It was the first time Guo Shier saw anyone fly—although it was only two zhang above the ground, the ability to hover in the air without any tools was truly amazing. “Oh my god, that’s a great Sorcerer!”