Chapter 5: The Great Golden Armor (Part 1)

Spitting out his Life Talisman Ball, Guo Shier moved slightly forward—though he dared not get too close, as the churning magma was already terrifying enough. Yet he was worried about the Ancient Flame Sparrow, fearing it might suffer, so he moved a bit closer to better control the intensity of the attack.

Guo Shier carefully tapped the Life Talisman Ball. It had long since transformed, adorned with seven layers of talisman arrays stacked on top of each other, glowing with various hues of light. As his finger made contact, a silver glow appeared on the outer layer of the ball, which quickly rose into the air and vanished in an instant.

Guo Shier was overjoyed. He could clearly sense the Giant Axe Talisman hidden in the air, ready to follow his commands. He had obtained seven spells, and by locking onto the Flame Locust, he could use one of these spells to launch a remote attack.

“Dodge!”
Guo Shier shouted. A beast talisman connected the Ancient Flame Sparrow to him, so at his command, the sparrow swiftly twisted its body, flapping its massive wings to sweep at the Flame Locust’s head. This caused the locust to stagger, and the sparrow took the opportunity to fly aside in the blink of an eye.

The seven spells were: Slash, Sweep, Whirlwind, Trap Circle, Counterstrike, Mountain Press, and Thousand Blades. Though there were only seven spells, according to the legends, the Giant Axe Talisman guided by them possessed terrifying power—something Guo Shier was eagerly anticipating.

As soon as the Ancient Flame Sparrow dodged, Guo Shier cast one of the spells: “Slash!”

A silver light suddenly flashed, accompanied by a sudden spread of icy cold.

Whoosh! Whoosh…

As the sound of something cutting through the air reached their ears, the silver light illuminated the entire landscape. The speed was incredible—just a brief flash later, an axe blade shaped like a crescent moon descended, carrying extreme cold, and slammed into the Flame Locust. The crescent-shaped axe, actually over ten meters long, flew back into the air in an instant, disappearing without a trace.

The icy air met the scorching magma beneath the Flame Locust, causing it to instantly solidify into large chunks of black volcanic rock. The Flame Locust was split in two, along with the magma beneath it. The cold had even frozen the magma, creating a huge ravine.

The Ancient Flame Sparrow chirped repeatedly, clearly overjoyed. A talismanic flame flew out of its mouth and swiftly turned the Flame Locust into a pile of ashes. At the same time, the talismanic flame underwent a slight change, and before Guo Shier could see clearly, it was sucked back by the Ancient Flame Sparrow.

Guo Shier realized that the essence of the Flame Locust had been completely absorbed by the Ancient Flame Sparrow.

The Eagle Demon flew over and exclaimed in admiration, “This is the newly obtained talisman! It’s amazing!”

Guo Shier wasn’t sure whether to be happy or sad. He said, “This is… too easy, isn’t it? Damn, I only used one spell—there are still six others I haven’t tried!” He hadn’t expected to kill a fire-type mutated talismanic insect so easily. But he understood one thing: the Giant Axe Talisman was a cold-type talisman, and besides its chilling effect, its attacking power was also extremely fierce.

Putting away the Giant Axe Talisman, Guo Shier said, “It was all burned up by that little guy. We didn’t get anything at all. What a shame.” In truth, he wasn’t disappointed; he was just curious about what materials the Flame Locust contained. But before he could see them, they were completely burned away by the Ancient Flame Sparrow.

The Ancient Flame Sparrow quickly shrank back to Guo Shier’s shoulder, rubbing its little head against his neck and chirping happily several times. It showed no trace of dominance, instead carrying a hint of playfulness.

The Eagle Demon, envious, muttered, “Your bird…”

Guo Shier said, “Strange. Why is there only one mutated talismanic insect here… It’s a bit lacking.” He hadn’t had his fill yet. He had only used a little of his power to kill the Flame Locust, leaving him somewhat unsatisfied.

The Eagle Demon laughed inwardly and said, “It’s already good enough to encounter a Flame Locust. If not for your little bird provoking it, we probably wouldn’t have found it. Let’s go. Lao Luo is still waiting.”

Guo Shier was frustrated. The rare and ancient Ancient Flame Sparrow, in the Eagle Demon’s mouth, was referred to as “your little bird” over and over again. What was more annoying was the addition of “your” at the beginning—it sounded awkward no matter how you listened to it.

The two flew back. They saw Luo Zhan stretching his neck, looking around. He sighed in relief when he saw them return and said, “Sigh, you’re finally back. What was that thing making noise just now? It almost knocked me out of the air. It was so ugly. Did you kill it? Did you collect any materials?” Although he had already advanced to a Grand Talisman Martial Artist while at the North Talisman Sect, he had little experience outside and was far less knowledgeable than the Eagle Demon, let alone compared to Guo Shier.

The Eagle Demon said, “It was killed, but… it was swallowed by Shier’s little bird.” He pointed at the Ancient Flame Sparrow on Guo Shier’s shoulder.

Guo Shier shook his head helplessly and said, “It’s not something to be swallowed, you know… It was burned!”
Luo Zhan couldn’t help but sigh, “Isn’t it too wasteful?”
Guo Shier replied, “It’s not wasteful. The Ancient Flame Bird needs to absorb souls in order to grow.”
Boom!
Not far away, a large volcanic crater ejected a stream of fiery magma, which soared thousands of meters into the air before falling back down. Then there were two more explosions, with two more streams of magma gushing out. The rumbling sound of the magma falling was terrifying.
Guo Shier found it strange. He noticed that volcanic eruptions here rarely produced ash; only scorching magma flowed, so although the sky was dark, no large amounts of ash fell, which was different from the volcanic eruptions he had seen in his past life.
Luo Zhan asked, “Where should we go?”
Eagle Demon suddenly cried out, “Whoa… Shier, look!”
Guo Shier focused his gaze and gasped. Amidst the rising stream of magma, there appeared a human figure—a mere illusion, surely formed by a protective spell. As the magma rose, the figure flew out, followed by a heart-shaking strange sound.
Another loud explosion occurred, and a golden illusion chased after it, emitting a strange, shrill chirping sound that made people feel panicked. Guo Shier cast a spell and placed his hand over his eyelids, causing his eyes to glow with magical light. He said, “Who is it… What is chasing us? Let’s retreat—this thing is terrifying!”
The three of them quickly retreated.
With a crackle, a light blue lightning bolt as thick as a bucket struck the golden illusion that had followed the magma. It was sent by the figure flying above. Before Guo Shier could see clearly, the golden illusion fell into the volcanic crater, and the stream of magma exploded loudly, like fireworks.
The Ancient Flame Bird suddenly became restless, and Guo Shier hurriedly calmed it down, sensing its unease.
The figure separated from the magma and immediately revealed its true form. It cast thousands of spells, and in an instant, twelve magic pillars rose from the magma around the crater, each with a person sitting on it.
Guo Shier found them extremely familiar. Eagle Demon exclaimed in surprise, “Huh? Doesn’t this… resemble the pillars from the Land of Blood?”
When he first received the inheritance of the Ancient Soul Altar, countless pillars had appeared on the ground, almost identical to these twelve pillars. Guo Shier also realized it and said, “That’s right, they’re the same kind of pillars… How did they appear here?”
Eagle Demon smiled bitterly and said, “I don’t know.”

After the twelve talisman pillars appeared, the figure above the volcano shouted, “Seal it!” The people sitting on the twelve talisman pillars simultaneously cast spells, and instantly, an extremely cold aura spread. The magma flowing on the ground emitted intense hissing sounds and crackling noises as it contracted. A large amount of mist rose into the air. In moments, all the magma surrounding the volcano’s crater solidified, and the rising mist formed dark clouds in the sky. A shrill sound, like a blade slicing through glass, came from underground, and another burst of magma erupted from the volcano’s crater, rushing upward with force. The twelve talisman pillars flickered in succession, and countless virtual talismans were sent out, quickly dispersing the flow of magma. Then, a golden phantom flew out of the volcano’s crater and rapidly rose into the air. Guo Shier looked at the figure above the volcano and blurted, “I’ve seen that person before!” Eagle Demon also recognized him and said, “It’s… one of Senior Choumo’s disciples!” Back in the Bloody Secret Realm, Choumo had two disciples, both experts who surpassed Great Sage Masters. They might be on the same level as the enchanting Zhu Jiamao, or even stronger. They were professionals that Guo Shier and Eagle Demon looked up to with admiration. The twelve professionals sitting on the twelve talisman pillars were all high-level Great Sage Masters. Their soul pressure was so intense that Guo Shier and the others could hardly bear it, forcing them to retreat. Luo Zhan was lucky to have Eagle Demon protecting him; otherwise, he would have fallen to the ground. He said in awe, “So powerful! These people are truly strong…” The golden phantom that flew out of the volcano’s crater gradually solidified into a golden beetle. Guo Shier cast a detection spell and was shocked to say, “Oh my god, it’s a Level 13 mutated talisman insect! It’s… terrifying… Level 13! What kind of talisman insect is this… it can even reach Level 13?” Mutated talisman insects rarely exceeded Level 10, with Level 11 being extremely rare—only those nurtured in special environments could reach that level. A Level 13 mutated talisman insect was almost abnormally powerful, far stronger than a Level 13 mutated beast, especially if it came from a special environment, like this golden beetle that emerged from the volcano’s crater—clearly a strange fire insect that had grown in the magma. This golden beetle wasn’t very large, with an oval body. Its flat sides had rows of sharp spines extending backward, and its triangular head featured a golden curved horn extending toward its back. It had no legs but instead chains of talismanic patterns of varying lengths, resembling ribbons, on which clusters of purple talismanic flames burned fiercely.

A pair of semi-transparent wings would occasionally appear from beneath two thick golden carapaces on its back, each appearance releasing layers of flames and accompanied by a brief crackling sound. On the golden carapaces, bright red runes kept moving, as if they were alive. This thing was extremely dangerous, but it also looked beautiful.
Guo Shier repeatedly exclaimed, “What an eye-opener… What a beautiful giant beetle…”
The Eagle Demon laughed and said, “Hey, Shier, wipe your saliva…”