Chapter 4: Alligator Madness (Part 1)

Magic runes flashed wildly in the sky, streaks of light cutting through the air as more and more professionals approached. Guo Shier’s face turned pale, and Monier also looked grave. Eagle Demon protected Guo Shier calmly—he had always been bold. Qi Nanshan remained steady as well. He snapped, “Follow me!”

There was a dense forest in the valley. Flying above the treetops, though fast, made them easy to spot. Entering the forest slowed them down, making them less noticeable. Fortunately, both Qi Nanshan and Eagle Demon had lived on the lower continents before advancing to the rank of Mad Master. Back then, they couldn’t fly, so they had extensive experience navigating forests.

The four of them moved swiftly forward. Monier was clearly less agile than the others, so Guo Shier simply took her hand and pulled her along. They saw two or three more secret realm entrances, but Qi Nanshan didn’t choose any of them. There were only a limited number of such entrances in this forest. By blocking them, the sect’s magic arrays could seal off the secret realms. Even if those inside had their own magic gates, it wouldn’t help. Then, by sending people in to search, none of them could escape.

However, Guo Shier thought differently. He whispered, “Grandpa Nanshan, let’s enter any secret realm randomly. I’ll lead you out…”

Qi Nanshan suddenly realized that Guo Shier’s magic gate seemed unique. He immediately said, “Follow me!” There happened to be a small secret realm entrance nearby, so he rushed in first. Eagle Demon followed closely, and Guo Shier pulled Monier in as well. Without hesitation, the four flew high into the sky to maximize the effectiveness of their flying magic runes.

When they were a kilometer away from the entrance, Qi Nanshan gave a signal and dived downward, landing on the ground in an instant. Guo Shier and the others followed suit.

Before anyone could speak, Guo Shier realized his ordinary magic gate was no longer usable, filling him with shock. The Star Sect was truly ruthless—apparently, they had set up some kind of magic array in the mountains to seal off all entrances and exits to the secret realms at any time.

But the people of the Star Sect never expected that Guo Shier possessed a cross-dimensional magic gate, which could almost ignore such blockades.

As the magic gate appeared, Guo Shier laughed, “Let’s go! Haha!” As long as he had enough time to activate the cross-dimensional gate, it would be hard for anyone to catch them.

This time, they went to the same secret realm from before—the one that had been closed. It was the safest place. With the cross-dimensional gate, they could exit at any time.

Two hours later, Ao Kuang appeared at the place where Guo Shier and the others had disappeared, accompanied by a group of people. He held a talisman disk the size of a washbasin in his hands.
“They actually managed to break through the Locking Talisman Array! They must have Cross-Domain Talismans!”
Ao Kuang’s expression turned grim. He knew these escaped professionals were no ordinary folks. It was extremely difficult for ordinary professionals to obtain Cross-Domain Talismans, unless given by a mentor, and even he couldn’t craft them. These professionals surely had powerful backgrounds.
Hundreds of spells were cast in succession. The talisman disk floating in front of him spun rapidly, with bits of starlight drifting out. After a while, his face turned even paler. The professionals following him didn’t dare breathe, holding their breath as they realized Ao Kuang was furious.
After a long pause, Ao Kuang said indifferently, “Bring that so-called Xie Tou over.”
Xie Tou’s leather armor had been stripped off, and he was brought in with a swollen nose and eyes. Ao Kuang asked calmly, “Where are your accomplices?”
Xie Tou hung his head dejectedly and said, “I don’t know them… They’re not my accomplices either!”
Ao Kuang said, “Oh? If not accomplices, then why did you team up to kill Han Xiao?”
Xie Tou suddenly became enraged and shouted, “I fucking admit it! I don’t know those people! It was your idiot… who forced them to attack me… Haha, pity they weren’t intimidated and instead joined forces with me… We killed that idiot, haha, haha!”
Ao Kuang’s pupils narrowed, and his expression grew even darker. “Don’t know them, huh! Don’t know them!” He waved his hand, and several Talisman Martial Saints stepped forward and beat Xie Tou mercilessly, causing him to scream in pain. The Talisman Martial Saints’ blows were brutal—after just a few strikes, Xie Tou spat out blood, with most of his teeth knocked out.
Ao Kuang continued, “What did those people look like? There should be four of them, right? Describe them…”
Xie Tou lay on a rock, gasping for breath. He kept spitting out blood and said with a pained smile, “Good, hit him well…”
Ao Kuang said indifferently, “Oh? Hit him well? Then hit him again!”
Another round of brutal beating ensued. Xie Tou finally couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed unconscious. One of the Saints cast a few illusion talismans, instantly waking him up. Grunting, Xie Tou said after a while, “You have the guts to kill me!”
Ao Kuang also felt a headache—it seemed this guy was truly determined to go to extremes.

The evil man knew very well that no matter what he said or how much he cooperated with them, he couldn’t escape death, so he simply said nothing. As for discovering a Black Talismanist, of course he wouldn’t say anything either. The appearance of a Black Talismanist on the Star Continent was a disaster for the Star Sect. Once such a being grew stronger, things would get chaotic. He hated the Star Sect deeply; how could he reveal such information to them?

Ao Kuang also knew he couldn’t get anything out of him for now. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Take him away.”

A senior sage beside him asked softly, “Master, why not kill him?”

Ao Kuang shook his head and said, “We can’t kill him yet. He isn’t a disciple of a small sect but of a major sect, here to gain experience on the Star Continent. He’s registered with our Star Sect. If we really have to kill him… it has to be in front of his sect’s people.”

Ao Kuang added, “Go back and check if those four sages are registered with our Star Sect.”

……

Guo Shier and the others sat by a huge rock. The area was still extremely desolate, with rocks everywhere and only a few plants, mostly weeds, along with some vines creeping up the rocks.

The four of them had already eaten and were sitting together discussing the battle.

Guo Shier asked curiously, “Grandpa Qinan, black talisman fire is so powerful. How come you’re unharmed?”

Qi Nanshan shook his head. “It’s not that powerful. This is inherited talisman fire, designed to burn souls. Unfortunately, it’s not enough, and its use is limited. If I had high-quality talisman fire, like purple talisman fire, it could greatly enhance my strength… Since receiving the inheritance, my grandfather and I have explored many secret realms, but we haven’t found any talisman fire.”

Monier laughed upon hearing this and said, “Baby has it!”

Guo Shier immediately took out a purple talisman fire bead from his life talisman sphere, one of the few high-grade talisman fires he kept. He said, “Grandpa Qinan, here, purple talisman fire.”

Qi Nanshan was stunned. He and Luo Jie had been searching for talisman fire ever since they received the inheritance, yet Guo Shier simply produced it effortlessly. He asked in surprise, “Where did you get this talisman fire?”

Guo Shier replied, “The Yan Fire Secret Realm! It’s the Yan Fire Secret Realm of the Northern Talisman Sect, though it’s now under the control of the Chenxiao Sect.”

Qi Nanshan slapped his thigh suddenly and said, “Oh, how could I forget the Yan Fire Secret Realm! Now I understand—so the so-called Yan Fire is talisman fire… Ah, what a pity.”

Guo Shier couldn’t help but mutter, “Lack of education is terrifying… People from our lower-tier continent are truly pitiful…”

Qi Nanshan held a purple talisman fire bead. The purple talisman fire was surrounded by layers of talismanic patterns, forming a beautiful fire bead. He hesitated for a moment, glanced at Guo Shier, as if wanting to say something, but then swallowed his words.

Guo Shier, as sharp as a monkey, immediately understood Qi Nanshan’s thoughts and said, “I still have some. I’ll have more when I meet Master Luo Jie.”

His understanding made Qi Nanshan feel relieved. Without further hesitation, he swallowed the fire bead. Immediately afterward, he cried out, “Damn it!”

Everyone was shocked. A black flame rose from Qi Nanshan’s body, instantly turning his clothes to ashes. If everyone present had been men, it might not have been a big deal, but there was also a woman—a beautiful one at that. Qi Nanshan couldn’t help but shout, but he had no time to care. He focused all his efforts on merging the purple talisman fire with his own black talisman fire, ignoring the presence of the woman.

Monier glanced at the scene calmly, clicked her tongue, shook her head in disapproval, and walked away. After all, when practicing the Talisman Martial Path in the Chenxiao Sect, everyone had to strip naked, so she was already used to such things.

Guo Shier was sweating profusely, inwardly marveling at his master’s strength.

Ying Mo stared anxiously at Qi Nanshan and asked, “Shier, could merging talisman fires like this be dangerous?”

Guo Shier shook his head. “I don’t know. Grandpa Nanshan is a high-level Holy Master; he should be able to handle it, right?” He wasn’t sure either and was even more nervous than Ying Mo, but there was nothing he could do to help Qi Nanshan now. All he could do was pray that things wouldn’t go too badly.

Qi Nanshan adopted a very strange posture—one leg stretched forward straight, the other on the ground, his body tilted backward. Above his chest burned a raging flame, with countless purple flames mixed within the black flames. The flames flickered and rose over three meters high.

Guo Shier felt his heart tremble. He pulled Ying Mo back quickly. Just the fluctuations emitted by this phenomenon made his soul extremely uneasy—it was terrifying.

Ying Mo’s eyes lit up as he said, “I’d rather be hunted than miss out on the inheritance of the Ancient Black Talisman People… Its power is unimaginable.”

Guo Shier smiled bitterly. “I don’t want to accept such an inheritance… Becoming an enemy of all professionals is too terrifying.”

Eagle Demon said, “I don’t know if I can rise to the rank of Grand Sage in this life, but if I obtain the inheritance of the Black Symbolist, I’m sure I can not only reach that rank but also ascend to even higher levels. I think… only those above the rank of Grand Sage are true top professionals, masters who can dominate various continents.”
Guo Shier smiled and asked, “A few years ago… did you think you could reach the rank of Sage?”
Eagle Demon was stunned for a moment before casually responding, “Of course not! At that time, I thought it would be great if I could become a high-level Great Symbolist Warrior.”
Guo Shier spread his hands and said, “See… you’ve already reached the rank of Junior Sage now.”
Eagle Demon shook his head and said, “If it weren’t for following you, I wouldn’t have been able to reach the rank of Sage either. Hehe, I understand what you mean. I’m just envious… hehe, just envious.”