Chapter 4: Discovery (Part 1)

Upon hearing the news, Chief Inspector Zhu Jiamao couldn’t help but stand up excitedly and said, “Good! Send skilled experts in immediately to search thoroughly! Don’t overlook any suspicious spots! I need answers!”
The inspector who came to report bowed and agreed before turning to leave. Zhu Jiamao said to the young man behind him, “Go and summon the chief inspector.”
A moment later, the enchanting beauty arrived in the living room and said, “I’ve also received the news. Let’s go together.”
Zhu Jiamao nodded, and the two went outside to the giant shuttle vehicle. They gathered over 200 skilled experts, and the group marched toward the platform.
The enchanting beauty exclaimed in amazement, “Wow, impressive… There’s actually a platform here! Hehe, I wonder which sect’s disciple discovered it.”
Zhu Jiamao said, “It’s no wonder so few people have found such a hidden place. Even if someone does… I guess they’d keep it secret and refuse to reveal it.”
An inspector approached and said, “We found a passage with signs of excavation…”
Zhu Jiamao nodded and said gravely, “Go take a look!”
The enchanting beauty said with a smile, “Let’s go, together… Hehe…” Before long, they arrived at the rock hall. She glanced around and exclaimed in surprise, “Huh? There seem to be quite a few people here—so many tents!”
A large group of skilled experts followed the two, most of them being sage-level experts. They noticed that there were many Blood Soul Stones on the rock walls, but no one dared to move. Everyone stayed obediently behind Zhu Jiamao and the enchanting beauty. An inspector said, “It’s this passage.”
Zhu Jiamao asked, “Have you gone in to check?”
The man replied, “We didn’t go all the way in. We only briefly inspected the cave walls and found signs of excavation. I was afraid of startling the people inside. If they, in their ignorance, destroyed the Ancient Seal Sect, that would be troublesome.”
Zhu Jiamao nodded and said, “Good. enchanting beauty, shall I handle it… or should I?”
The enchanting beauty smiled and said, “Old Zhu, I’ll refrain from showing off. It’s more appropriate for you to take action.”
Zhu Jiamao nodded indifferently and said, “Come with us.”
A sage stepped forward quickly and cast a lighting talisman. Zhu Jiamao said, “Follow me!” and strode forward.
“Hm? A mutated talisman beast? No, it’s a Soul Beast!”
Zhu Jiamao stopped in his tracks, looking at the exit not far away. There, the giant dragon’s massive mouth and a pair of red-glowing eyes stared at him intently.
The enchanting beauty laughed and said, “I didn’t expect there to be an eighth-level Soul Beast guarding it. Interesting.”

Zhu Jiamao said, “Go up and shout at them to put away their Spirit Beasts!” An archmage beside him immediately stepped forward and shouted loudly, “Disciples undergoing trials in there, listen! We are from the inspection team! Please put away your Spirit Beasts right now—otherwise, we will take action!”
There was no response from inside, so the archmage repeated his shout. Then the demoness giggled and said, “Idiot, there’s no one in there. There’s only one Spirit Beast, probably left here to guard the place.”
The archmage’s face turned red with anger, and he said furiously, “I’ll go kill it!”
Zhu Jiamao said, “Stop! I’ll handle it.”
The archmage didn’t dare disobey Zhu Jiamao’s order. He bowed and stepped back.
The demoness laughed, “Already starting to protect it? But this Spirit Beast is quite good. I wonder which disciple’s beast talisman it is.”
Zhu Jiamao raised his eyebrows slightly, stepped forward, and slowly extended his palm. The archmages and grand archmages following him all had gleaming eyes. After all, the chief inspector hardly ever intervened personally, yet everyone knew how powerful he was. It was a great fortune to see him take action.
It was as if an invisible giant hand had grabbed the Giant Nest Dragon’s head. Zhu Jiamao gave a soft command, “Shatter!”
No one could see how he did it. He simply stretched out his hand, gave a command, then clenched his fingers into a fist. The Giant Nest Dragon let out a tragic roar before instantly turning into a mass of spirit energy. Zhu Jiamao said, “Go in. It’s no longer a threat.”
The Giant Nest Dragon, now in the form of spirit energy, immediately floated into the Ancient Talisman Gate. This was the instinct of Spirit Beasts—to seek their own dwelling place, that beast talisman. Zhu Jiamao said, “By following that mass of spirit energy, we can find its owner.” With that, he stepped out of the cave entrance and immediately saw the Ancient Talisman Gate not far away, a smile appearing on his face.
The demoness let out a soft sigh, “It was really found… How wonderful…”
…
Guo Shier tried hard to climb to the 24th step—this was already his limit. Starting from the 16th step, a large number of ancestral ancient talismans entered his soul and condensed into his own unique talisman weapon within his life talisman sphere. It was a blade formed from a sword talisman, enhanced and transformed by the ancient talismans, becoming his personal weapon.
When he reached the 20th step, he felt he had advanced to a junior archmage, so he gritted his teeth and pressed on despite the difficulty. By the time he reached the 24th step, he knew he had reached his limit. The next step seemed like a huge mountain, impossible to cross.

Guo Shier felt severe pain all over his body; his legs gave way, and he slowly sat down. Instantly, countless ancient runes flew out, surrounding him completely, and in an instant they reached the top of the Soul Altar.
The Eagle Demon had already emerged. Sitting on top of the Soul Altar, he saw Guo Shier appear and couldn’t help but smile in relief. He asked, “How far have you come?”
Guo Shier also smiled and said happily, “Twenty-four steps… It’s really not easy.”
The Eagle Demon sighed, “I reached the twenty-fifth step before I could hold on any longer. Sigh, if only I could try harder, maybe I could reach the twenty-sixth step… What a pity.”
Guo Shier laughed weakly, “Don’t be too greedy. What we’ve obtained is the inheritance of the ancient Soul Altar. Moreover, I think this altar is even more advanced than the Soul Altars we found before!”
The Eagle Demon nodded and said, “I wonder if we’ll be able to climb this altar again once our strength grows in the future.”
Guo Shier shook his head and said, “In the future… it’s basically impossible to come back and climb it.”
Unaware that the outside world had changed drastically, the two continued chatting while resting. The Eagle Demon said, “I think sleeping on the altar might be beneficial… Hehe, just like when I slept on the first Soul Altar and suddenly advanced without reason. This one must have an even greater effect!”
Guo Shier said, “Who knows… Sigh, I don’t even want to move; my whole body is sore.”
The Eagle Demon stretched vigorously, his joints cracking noisily. He shook his head forcefully, then lowered it and tilted it back. Suddenly, he stopped moving, staring at the sky and saying, “This… what’s going on?”
Guo Shier also looked up and saw a beam of light shooting upward ten meters above the altar. Since this light had appeared as soon as they entered the altar, they hadn’t found it strange. It was only when they looked up that they noticed the change—the clouds in the sky were spiral-shaped, completely different from before entering the altar.
The Eagle Demon’s expression darkened. He said, “I didn’t expect the activation of the Soul Altar to cause such a big disturbance. We’d better leave quickly.”
Guo Shier thought for a moment and said, “Okay, let’s go!”
The two stood up and walked to the edge of the altar. Guo Shier stepped forward, about to step onto the steps, when suddenly he felt as if he had hit an invisible wall. A force pushed him back repeatedly. The Eagle Demon asked in surprise, “What’s wrong?”
Guo Shier wondered, “I can’t get through! It seems like there’s an invisible wall. Uncle Eagle Demon, try it.”

The Eagle Demon exerted all his strength and rushed outward. With a loud crash, he returned even faster, sitting down on the ground in shock and exclaiming, “What the hell is so powerful? Even an iron wall should be broken by me…”
Guo Shier didn’t answer. He circled around the edge of the altar, touched it, and discovered an invisible, transparent wall—or rather, an invisible force—that surrounded the entire altar. After thinking for a moment, he pushed hard with his legs and instantly flew upward. As he rose, he discovered something pleasing: he could fly without using a flying talisman.
At a height of about eight meters, he collided with the invisible wall again. After probing a bit, he realized it was an oval-shaped shield, and he couldn’t get out at all. He slowly descended, saying with a grim expression, “Strange, how could there be such a shield? We’re trapped.”
The Eagle Demon, sitting on the ground, said, “It’s okay… We might still be missing a step, that’s why we can’t get out. Let’s sleep first; we’re too tired.” He casually took out two thick animal skins from his talisman bag, threw them on the ground, and fell asleep. Guo Shier also felt exhausted and yawned before falling asleep as well.
After the two fell asleep, countless tiny ancient runes slowly drifted down from above. The Eagle Demon was right—it was a crucial step of the Ancient Soul Altar, called Soul Nurturing. Through Soul Nurturing, many benefits could be obtained.
…
After four days of relentless running, Zhang Yaojin and his group were completely exhausted. They slept outdoors for a whole day before rushing toward the altar again. The group had long split up. Zhou Xiaoling, at the front, was nearly at the altar, while Yang Qi, the fat man at the back, was still at least two days away.
After Guo Shier and the Eagle Demon fell asleep, a fierce wind blew and heavy rain poured down.
The burned wood forests were completely destroyed. After the rain, the wood would grow again, but it might take thousands of years to form new forests.
At that moment, Zhu Jiamao and the Demoness entered the Ancient Talisman Gate with hundreds of experts.
As soon as they stepped out of the gate, they saw a pillar of light rising from the Ancient Soul Altar. They exchanged glances, both showing joy. Zhu Jiamao said, “Good luck. It seems we’ve found it!”
The Demoness laughed, “Hehe, thousands of years of waiting were worth it! So many experts died, yet they’re not even as lucky as a few trial disciples.”

Zhu Jiamao nodded and said, “Yes, countless experts have died… and we still can’t find this legendary Ancient Soul Altar. The area covered by the ancient rune array is impenetrable. We knew there was something strange about it, but we couldn’t locate the entrance. We never expected it to be this simple… We overcomplicated things.”
The demoness said, “Leave twenty people to guard the ancient rune gate; we’ll go to the Ancient Soul Altar!”