Chapter 2: Inheritance (Part 1)

The Dark-Winged Scorpion moved at incredible speed and arrived at the forest in moments. As expected, it was filled with dead trees. The area wasn’t large—at a glance, Guo Shier thought there were at most a few hundred such dead trees.

Upon getting closer, he noticed that many of the dead trees had already rotted, with only a few still standing. Without hesitation, Guo Shier threw a spellfire at them. Since there were no other trees around, there was no risk of the fire spreading. The Ancient Flamesparrow also flew above the forest and spat out thin streams of spellfire.

Soon, a large fire broke out, engulfing the entire forest. Fortunately, it was spellfire—although extremely hot, it produced no smoke or dust, only dancing flames. The Ancient Flamesparrow flew excitedly through the flames, spewing more and more thin streams of spellfire. The Dark-Winged Scorpion, however, kept retreating, frightened by the heat of the spellfire.

After a while, all the dead trees turned to ashes. The Ancient Flamesparrow sucked in the still-burning spellfires, including the golden one Guo Shier had emitted, then returned to spit out the golden spellfire for Guo Shier to retrieve.

Guo Shier didn’t go down to search for the crystal fragments himself. Instead, he ordered the Dark-Winged Scorpion to release the small scorpions on its back. Dozens of the small scorpions crawled into the ashes and quickly found over thirty crystal fragments. They returned one by one, placing the fragments in front of Guo Shier.

This time, Guo Shier noticed something different—these crystals were all dark green, so dark they appeared black, and very small, similar to ordinary lighters from his past life. Without time to study them further, he gathered the crystals from the ground and immediately jumped onto the Dark-Winged Scorpion’s back, urging it to run away. Now he understood that he needed to look for forests of dead trees.

Zhang Yaojin felt both excited and sad. He hadn’t even left that forest of storage trees yet and had only managed to collect a dozen or so crystal fragments after all this effort. Meanwhile, Guo Shier and the Eagle Demon had already vanished on the scorpion’s back.

Finding forests of dead trees wasn’t easy, so Guo Shier kept running farther. With the Dark-Winged Scorpion as his means of transportation, it was quite convenient. He ordered the scorpion to send out the small scorpions to scout, while he sat comfortably, carefully examining the available crystal fragments.

By now, he could roughly tell the quality of the crystals, though mostly by guess. The darker and smaller the crystals, the higher their quality seemed to be. The smallest fragment was only the size of a thumb, almost black in color. Only when viewed against light could a hint of green be seen, with the spell patterns inside as tiny as ants.

The largest crystal was the one obtained at the beginning—it was half a foot long, as thick as an egg, green in color, with runes flowing across its surface, but clearly inferior to the crystals made from Wan Nian Zhu Ling Wood. After playing with it for a while, he carefully stored the Zhu Ling Wood inside the spirit-hiding talisman of his life talisman sphere. Such things must never be left outside; just like Blood Soul Stones, if discovered by others, they would bring disaster. Having gathered An Luo Stone, Blood Soul Stones, and Zhu Ling Wood, he still didn’t understand why people from the Advanced Continent needed these three materials, as he hadn’t received any teachings on this matter. He only knew they were extremely precious and could be used to exchange items even if he didn’t need them himself. However, he had no immediate plans to trade them, as he wasn’t sure if they would be useful to him. Soon, they found another dead forest. Guo Shier ordered the Ancient Flame Sparrow to burn the forest, while he and Eagle Demon went to a nearby forest of Zhu Ling Wood to transplant it using Planting Talismans. He liked Planting Talismans, so he had many of them. The two of them carefully transplanted about twenty trees, by which time the little scorpion had already brought over the crystals from the Zhu Ling Wood. There were over three hundred crystals in total, among which more than a dozen stood out, with lightning-like patterns flashing on their surfaces. Guo Shier picked them up and was overjoyed—these were crystals left after being struck by lightning. He selected these lightning-struck crystals and carefully stored them separately. Continuing this process of burning forests as they went, Guo Shier and Eagle Demon gathered a large amount of Zhu Ling Wood. After checking the time, he realized it was almost done and felt slightly relieved. He was glad no powerful talisman beasts or insects were found here. Riding his Dark Winged Demon Scorpion, he headed back. Three days later, Guo Shier returned to the Ancient Talisman Gate. After waiting for over an hour, he finally saw Zhang Yaojin returning in a hurry. The man looked exhausted; Guo Shier guessed he hadn’t rested at all. Smiling, he asked, “Brother Zhang, how was your harvest?” Zhang Yaojin replied, “Not much, hehe, not much…” in a evasive manner. Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. He understood Zhang Yaojin’s feelings and knew how precious and rare Zhu Ling Wood was, so such an attitude and expression weren’t surprising. He said, “We can go back now. Bring them along.” With that, heput away his Dark Winged Demon Scorpion and Ancient Flame Sparrow and stepped into the Ancient Talisman Gate first, with Eagle Demon and Zhang Yaojin following closely behind.

Chen Zhendong was sitting in front of the Ancient Talisman Gate. When he saw Guo Shier stepping out, he couldn’t help but smile. Then, Eagle Demon and Zhang Yaojin came out as well. Zhou Xiaoling exclaimed, “Wow, you’re finally back!”
Guo Shier said cheerfully, “It went smoothly!”
Chen Zhendong asked urgently, “Where is it? Can it lead to the outside world?”
Zhang Yaojin replied, “There’s no way to communicate with the outside world. It’s a deserted place, but we didn’t encounter any danger.”
Chen Zhendong said with a wry smile, “What a pity… I thought we’d found a way in.”
Soon, all his teammates who had been digging for Blood Soul Stones in the passage rushed in. Sun Min’er shouted loudly, “Shier, did you find any rare treasures? Any Blood Soul Stones? We found quite a few here!” he said excitedly.
Guo Shier laughed and said, “No Blood Soul Stones, but we found vast forests of Zuling Wood!”
“What?”
Chen Zhendong was shocked and said, “You mean Zuling Wood? I’m not hearing wrong, am I?” His voice trembled slightly; his reaction was a bit better than Zhang Yaojin’s when he saw the Zuling Wood.
Zhou Xiaoling also widened her delicate eyes. Anyone from the Advanced Continent who had received an inheritance knew that Zuling Wood was an even rarer material than Blood Soul Stones.
Chen Zhendong finally realized what was happening. He exclaimed anxiously, “Vast forests of Zuling Wood? Good heavens…”
Zhang Yaojin said, “That’s right. It’s indeed a forest of Zuling Wood, with countless trees, including those that are thousands of years old…” He suddenly burst into laughter. “Haha, we’re rich!” This excitement had been building up inside him for a long time, and now that he had found someone to share it with, he couldn’t help but lose control.
Chen Zhendong’s eyes shone with extreme excitement. Rubbing his hands together eagerly, he said, “Oh my god, a forest of Zuling Wood! How many trees must there be… Back where I’m from, just one piece of Zuling Wood can be exchanged for many things… But who would give it away? Haha… I’ll go first!” Without waiting, he rushed into the Ancient Talisman Gate.
Chaos ensued immediately. Everyone rushed in like mad. In the blink of an eye, only Guo Shier and Eagle Demon were left, with Zhang Yaojin rushing in again as well.
Guo Shier laughed and said, “This is crazy… I just don’t understand. Is Zuling Wood really that precious?”
Eagle Demon shook his head. “We’re not from the Advanced Continent, nor have we received any inheritance related to this. We don’t even know how to use it… Shier, never mind. Let’s go in too. Collect as much as we can. Since we’ve found it, we can’t let it slip away.”

Guo Shier sighed. He released the Giant Perching Dragon to guard the Ancient Talisman Gate. If the gate was destroyed, none of them would be able to escape; they would all suffocate in that desolate place, so precautions were necessary. Fortunately, the Giant Perching Dragon had a certain degree of intelligence. Though not as advanced as the Dark-Winged Demon Scorpion or the Ancient Flame Sparrow, it could still understand Guo Shier’s commands well.

The Giant Perching Dragon lowered its massive head toward the passage, lying flat on the ground and keeping a close watch on the entrance. Anything trying to enter first had to dodge its terrifying maw.

Guo Shier and the Eagle Demon reentered the Ancient Talisman Gate.

Everyone stood not far from the gate, staring in astonishment at the vast forests of Storage Wood.

Some people already looked worried, as refining Storage Wood crystals required Talisman Fire. Those in the Talismancraft profession could use low-level Talisman Fire even at the beginner stage, while those in the Talismanmartial profession had to reach the Sage level to master it. Thus, several Talismanmartial professionals were stunned.

Chen Zhendong, Xuan Ai, and Yang Qi, all Talismancraft professionals, had Talisman Fire, but like Zhang Yaojin, it was only low-level. The others, including Zhou Xiaoling, the strongest among the Talismanmartial professionals, did not have any Talisman Fire.

Zhang Yaojin said, “Alright, everyone go ahead and collect as much as you can. It’s all yours. There’s plenty of Storage Wood here anyway.”

Zhou Xiaoling snapped, “We can’t collect it like that! Do you expect us to harvest whole trees?”

Chen Zhendong replied, “You just need to cut them down. Collect the trunks, and then have the Talismancraft professionals help refine them after we leave. It’s simple…”

Zhou Xiaoling thought about it and agreed, “If that’s the case, fine! I’ll collect them this way!” She took out an axe, jumped into the forest, and began cutting down trees.

Guo Shier nodded. “That’s a good idea too. Uncle Eagle Demon, you might give it a try too, haha.”

The Eagle Demon smiled. “I don’t mind.”

Guo Shier nodded again. “Let’s try to collect as much as possible. If there’s danger, release the Talisman Signal. Uncle Eagle Demon, let’s go.” He jumped onto the scorpion’s back and urged the Dark-Winged Demon Scorpion to head out of the forest. Collecting materials was the task of the apprentices; they had to do it themselves—no one else could help. Nor could he refine crystals in this forest. Although he had plenty of Talisman Fire, it was precious and could attract others’ greed.

He didn’t know how large this land was. Guo Shier just kept driving the Dark-Winged Demon Scorpion forward, racing all the way. Even though there were forests of Storage Wood nearby, he didn’t stop until he found dead forests—where the truly high-quality Storage Wood crystals lay.

Sitting on the scorpion’s back, Guo Shier said, “Uncle Eagle Demon, I’ve been wondering why there aren’t any powerful mutated talisman beasts or mutated talisman worms here?”
Eagle Demon laughed and said, “Do you really want those terrifying things everywhere?”