Chapter 8: Rivals in Joy (Part 1)

Kumu gritted his teeth for a while before finally saying, “Guo Shier, let’s go up.” He headed out silently, and Guo Shier followed him out of the underground talisman-making hall.
When they reached the courtyard ahead, they saw Yu Jie standing there awkwardly, with a woman in purple-red robes in front of him. Guo Shier was shocked—another sage. Now he understood that anyone wearing robes of the same color as his master was a top-tier sage. But the woman’s purple robe had intricate patterns on it.
She was a middle-aged woman still full of charm, with slight fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. Her phoenix-like eyes were filled with anger. She said, “Kumu! You… Huh? Who is this child? Is it your child? Great… You have a child outside! I’ll fight you!”
Kumu replied coldly, “Monier, what’s the fuss? This is my disciple!”
“Huh?”
Monier was about to rush forward when she suddenly stopped. At the moment she hesitated, Guo Shier strongly sensed the woman’s powerful aura. She was a bit puzzled and surprised, then examined Guo Shier carefully before a smile gradually appeared on her face. She asked, “Your new disciple? What’s his name? Where did you recruit him? How old is he?”
Not knowing how to address her, Guo Shier had an idea and said, “My name is Guo Shier. I’m ten years old. Hello, auntie!”
Monier stepped forward and said, “You call me auntie? That’s wrong. You should call me aunt!”
Guo Shier was stunned. He looked at Kumu.
Kumu said impatiently, “Monier, you’re not my wife anymore. We weren’t even married… Why keep pestering me?”
Guo Shier shuddered inwardly. Marital arguments made no sense. He stepped back and tightly closed his mouth. Speaking now would offend at least one person, maybe even both. He wasn’t stupid, so he immediately pretended to be a child—a good, obedient one at that.
Monier ignored Kumu and continued to study Guo Shier. The more she looked, the more she liked him. She reached out and took his hand, smiling, “This child is so cute. Come, call me ‘aunt’.”
Guo Shier hesitated slightly. Seeing that Kumu didn’t stop him, he said, “Hello, aunt!”
Unexpectedly, just those words made Monier cry. She hugged Guo Shier tightly and said, “Ah, such a good child.” Guo Shier was confused, while Kumu’s face turned ashen.

“How to dress up like a wildman? Come with the master’s wife; change into some clothes… Your master is such a dullard—he knows nothing but spells.”
With that, the withered man turned and left, saying as he went, “Guo Shier, start learning from tomorrow morning.”
Guo Shier replied, “Yes, master. I’ll be here on time tomorrow.” Inside, he groaned in frustration—he hadn’t expected his master to abandon him here. He followed Monier awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
Monier said, “Xiao Jie, why don’t you tidy up the yard? It’s in such a mess…”
Yu Jie looked bitter and said, “Sigh, young lady. It’s not that I refuse to tidy it up, but I don’t have the money for spells. This time, it was the young master who brought flour and fresh meat… We’re running out of food at home.”
Monier snapped angrily, “That dullard! Can’t even take care of such a small home.” She reached at her waist, took out a pouch of spell money, and threw it to Yu Jie, saying, “There’s ten thousand large spell coins inside—should be enough for a while.”
Yu Jie smiled and said, “Thank you, young lady. Please, come this way.”
Monier took Guo Shier’s hand and led him into a slightly better-maintained room. The room was empty except for a layer of animal skins on the floor. Monier took out a pile of clothes and said with a smile, “Shier, don’t wear these clothes outside the Chenxiao Sect. Hehe, people will know right away you’re not from there, and you’ll get bullied.”
Guo Shier pretended to be a child. He obediently nodded and said, “Yes, master’s wife.” Then he began changing into the local clothes, wondering why Monier had children’s clothes.
Monier’s beautiful phoenix eyes stared at Guo Shier, tears glistening in them. Guo Shier was terrified, not understanding why. After changing into his clothes, he said, “Master’s wife, I’m done.”
“That’s good, Shier. From now on, you’ll follow the master’s wife.”
Guo Shier was shocked and acted confused, saying, “Master’s wife, but I still need to learn from my master.” His pitiful expression made Monier feel inexplicably pained. She hugged him and said, “Alright, go and learn from… that dullard first. When I have time, I’ll come back for you, okay?”
Guo Shier nodded. “Yes, master’s wife.”

Seeing the cute and well-behaved Guo Shier, Monier was very happy. She examined him from head to toe, adjusted his clothes, then took out a three-finger-width belt and tied it around his waist, hanging the identity badge on it. She said, “Shier, this is a belt that can hold talisman pouches. It’s a fine belt, a gift from your master’s wife… By the way, you haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
Guo Shier nodded and said, “Thank you, master’s wife. Yeah, I haven’t eaten yet. I was with my master in the talisman-making hall just now.”
Monier said, “Your stupid, obsessed master is always showing off in that hall of his! Come, let’s go eat with your master’s wife.”
Guo Shier noticed that since Monier entered, his master had only shown up briefly before disappearing, likely hiding somewhere. It seemed he didn’t like meeting Monier, and it was unclear what their relationship was.
Monier took Guo Shier to the small kitchen, where two cooks were busy. They had already cooked a large pot of meat and broth, and there were fragrant flatbreads being baked in the oven—those were the only dishes available. Monier said, “Is this all we’re eating? Shier, your master’s wife has prepared talisman food for you. Do you like it?”
Guo Shier nodded, “I like it!” But inwardly he groaned, “Ugh, pretending to be a child might be endearing, but I really hate it.”
Monier looked pleased and took out a bunch of ingredients to start cooking the talisman food.
First, she prepared to cook rice. The rice she took out was unusual—each grain was crystal clear. She quickly fetched a small pot, rinsed and cooked the rice, then brought out some vegetables and fresh meat. Guo Shier immediately recognized that it was meat from mutated talisman beasts, as it contained strong life energy.
Monier stir-fried a few vegetables and cooked some talisman food, then had the cooks serve it out.
Guo Shier said, “Uncle Yu, go call your master to eat.”
Yu Jie seemed hesitant. Guo Shier urged him, “Hurry up! Your master hasn’t eaten yet. Call him over to eat together.”
Monier said, “Never mind. Let Xiao Jie go call him… Hmph, even if he takes advantage of his disciple.”
Only then did Yu Jie turn around to call for him.
A moment later, the expressionless-> expressionless -> expressionless-> expressionless walked in. Without any courtesy, he sat cross-legged and started eating right away. Monier rolled her eyes at him and said, “Shier, we should eat too, or your master will eat it all!”

Guo Shier wore a long robe of silver-white patterned satin, with a three-finger-width pure silver belt tied around his waist—made from the silk of mutated silver sigil spiders, making it extremely precious. Guo Shier was already good-looking, and his appearance in this life was far better than in the previous one; he had a cute young boy’s look that was very endearing.

Kumu ate furiously with his head down, while Monier ignored him and kept serving food to Guo Shier. Kumu finished his portion of the sigil food at lightning speed, stood up, and left without saying a word the whole time, which made Monier curse angrily, “Stupid woodhead! Bad woodhead! You’re driving me crazy… Stupid woodhead!”

Guo Shier almost laughed out loud. He gradually realized that these two were enemies, and outsiders must not interfere. If one of them was provoked, the other would surely step in to help. Despite their arguments, they actually had a good relationship. He hid his smile under his head.

After cursing a few times to vent her anger, Monier reached out and touched Guo Shier’s head, saying, “Our Shier is still the good one. That stupid woodhead finally did something reliable.”

After dinner, Monier asked Yu Jie to clean up, then said to Guo Shier, “Shier, let your master’s wife take a look to see how far you’ve come.” She took out a palm-sized sigil and said, “Here, stick it on your forehead. Pay attention to the patterns inside. Don’t force yourself—just see as much as you can. If you can’t go on, give up. Understand?” she said gently.

Just then, Kumu came back. He said, “Shier, tomorrow… Huh? What are you doing? Monier, he’s my disciple. What are you testing?”

Monier replied, “I know Shier is your disciple, but I’m his master’s wife! Of course I need to know his level!”

Kumu thought for a moment and said, “Since you want to test him, then go ahead and test him once. This thing isn’t very useful. Such rigid tests are completely pointless…”

Monier snapped, “You’re so full of nonsense! I just want to see how far Shier has come. I think he has great potential.” She was a low-level Holy Priest, not comparable to Kumu’s strength. Kumu had the strength of a high-level Holy Priest, just one step away from becoming a Grand Holy Priest—a top-tier professional.

Guo Shier picked up the sigil and placed it on his forehead.

Monier watched anxiously, and even Kumu grew a bit nervous. Although he already knew Guo Shier was quite skilled, this test was aimed at potential rather than actual strength.

A faint green light gently spread from the talisman. Gradually, the faint green light grew stronger, rapidly shifting from green to green, then slowly turning yellow. As the pale yellow light just appeared, it began to transform into pale red. In moments, the entire area was filled with flashing red light. By this time, Guo Shier felt a bit strained, and his face turned slightly red.

Kumu’s eyes shone with excitement—this was already high potential. Just as he thought it was over, the red light suddenly turned purple. Seeing that magnificent purple light, Monier couldn’t help but exclaim, “Top-tier potential! Does such top-tier potential really exist in this world? Am I hallucinating?”

A rare smile appeared on Kumu’s stern face, but it vanished almost immediately.