Chapter 8: Soul Extraction (Part 1)

The handsome old man lamented, “Sigh, could there be a little more? Just a little more… and I might be able to recall some things. It’s a pity, such a pity…”
Guo Shier’s hair stood on end at his long sighs. He said, “Don’t worry. As long as I find a altar, I can absorb souls. Old Man Handsome, what will happen if you regain your soul?”
The handsome old man screamed, “I’ll regain my complete soul! By then… I can help you guard the altar!”
Guo Shier suddenly understood. He said, “So it’s to help guard the altar.” He remembered Li Ran’s argument in the Bloody Secret Realm—extracting souls from altars and placing them on his own altar, all to have those souls guard his altar.
The handsome old man said, “By helping you guard the altar, your strength… will make you invincible among those of your level. You’ll even be able to challenge those above you. Go and find those souls quickly!”
Guo Shier stood up and said, “Let’s go. We’ll continue searching for altars.”
Xian Rudi glanced at Guo Shier. With her keen eyes, she hadn’t noticed anything amiss, but she was slightly puzzled: What was this guy doing at an abandoned altar? She said, “Fly to the left. There’s an altar there.”
Guo Shier immediately turned around. He became excited at the mere mention of an altar.
Soon, they saw a second altar. It was also half-ruined, but slightly more intact. Guo Shier exclaimed happily, “This altar is good!” He landed directly on top of it and pressed down with his hand.
This time, the Ancient Ink Lotus didn’t rotate. Guo Shier couldn’t help but sigh, realizing that the soul inside this altar had completely vanished. The handsome old man was frantic, his soul trembling in distress, “Ah, no! There’s none! It’s too regrettable! How could there be none…?”
Ignoring the old man’s frantic cries inside the Ancient Ink Lotus, Guo Shier stood up and said, “Let’s keep looking.”
Xian Rudi said, “This way! We’re still on the periphery. There are more altars inside.”
The group followed Xian Rudi, flying low over the ground at high speed. By now, they could see some professionals moving cautiously, mostly hiding in ravines. No one was flying as recklessly close to the ground as they were—fast and making a lot of noise. More spirit beasts also began to appear in the area.
Guo Shier and the others drew their weapons.
With the Moon Blade surrounding him, Guo Shier said, “Kill anyone who gets in our way!”

Three Great Saints and two Saints—their strength is considered extremely formidable here. Most of those who come here are professionals at the intermediate level, with Masters and Mad Masters being the majority; Saints are rare, and Great Saints are almost unseen. The Spirit Beasts here are mostly at levels three, four, five, or six, with very few reaching level seven.

Guo Shier and the others kept flying forward at full speed. If any Spirit Beasts attacked, they would simply slice them in half. They had no interest in such low-level Spirit Beasts, nor did the Ancient Flame Sparrow—since their level was too low, consuming them wouldn’t help with advancement.

Xian Ruidai said, “There should be two altars ahead!”

Guo Shier was overjoyed and sped up a bit, matching Xian Ruidai’s pace. He asked, “Have you seen an intact altar? One that can be used for inheritance?”

Xian Ruidai replied, “No. I’ve heard there are such altars deep in the Mad Battle Secret Realm, but all I’ve seen are damaged ones.”

Guo Shier thought it made sense. Since even mid- to low-level professionals dared to enter here, there probably wasn’t anything valuable. Xian Ruidai said, “We’re here, Brother Shier. Look… that’s the altar.”

It was another damaged altar. Such altars were of little use to high-level professionals but could be helpful to mid- to low-level disciples, as they could learn the ancient runes and some rune phrases on them, which were quite useful. That’s why mid- to low-level professionals came here.

The so-called ancient rune phrases were actually spells composed of runes. One spell formed a command that could be used on talismans or rune instruments. High-level professionals, on the other hand, usually resolved this issue once they received advanced inheritance.

Guo Shier had once memorized a large number of ancient rune phrases. Later, after receiving inheritance, he found they were all in his inherited memories. With serious study, he could master them and even combine ancient rune phrases to create new spells. But he knew this was a necessary process that mid- to low-level professionals had to go through.

He landed on the altar and placed his palm on its top again.

Xian Ruidai was extremely curious and couldn’t help asking, “What is Brother Shier doing?”

Not only Xian Ruidai but even Eagle Demon and the others didn’t know what Guo Shier was doing. However, having followed Guo Shier for so long, Eagle Demon knew he wouldn’t act aimlessly—there must be a purpose. He said, “I don’t know. He’s probably probing something.”

Xian Ruidai mused, “Probing?”

Guo Shier saw the Ancient Ink Lotus start spinning rapidly and couldn’t help but feel relieved. The old man started shouting again, with strands of pure souls being drawn out—quite a number this time. The old man began competing with Guo Shier for these souls. Guo Shier found himself unable to outmatch the old man; he could only obtain a small portion of the souls, with most being taken by the old man and merged into his own soul. He didn’t care much—since the old man’s strength increased, it meant his own strength also increased. After a while, the Ancient Ink Lotus stopped spinning quickly. Guo Shier noticed that the old man’s neck had taken shape, and his shoulders were beginning to appear. The old man was extremely excited, shouting wildly, causing the souls to tremble. Angered, Guo Shier shook him with his own soul: “If you keep making such noise… I’ll give up!” The old man immediately calmed down and said obsequiously, “Ah… Ah, Shier, hehe, I was just too excited. You have to understand, the pain of an old man…” His soul kept trembling as he talked nonstop, driving Guo Shier crazy. Guo Shier asked, “Have you remembered anything?” The old man smiled bitterly, “No… too little. If I get more souls, maybe once my upper body is repaired… I’ll be able to remember something.” Guo Shier didn’t expect him to remember anything; he just hoped the old man could repair his soul so he could help guard the Soul Altar in the future. Not far away, there was another altar that still seemed intact. Guo Shier flew over. There weren’t many souls left in this altar either, and they were quickly drawn out by Guo Shier. The old man’s shoulder had formed, and he seemed very excited. Though he wasn’t shouting anymore, Guo Shier could clearly sense the excitement in his soul’s fluctuations. Xian Ruidai couldn’t hold back any longer. She flew over to Guo Shier and asked, “Brother Shier, what exactly are you looking for?” Guo Shier made up an excuse, “I’m checking to see if there’s anything missing.” He couldn’t just say he was drawing out the remaining souls from the altar. Xian Ruidai asked, “Oh, have you found anything?” Guo Shier smiled and said, “It’s not that easy. I haven’t found anything yet. It depends on luck.” Xian Ruidai looked at Guo Shier suspiciously, as if seeing a big bad wolf deceiving a little lamb, which made Guo Shier break into sweat. He thought, “This kid is too smart.” He said with a smile, “This altar might have been searched countless times. It’s normal if there’s nothing. I’m just checking in case there’s something left behind…”

Xian Ruidai couldn’t imagine that Guo Shier was searching for the remaining souls of the altars, so she couldn’t figure out what was wrong. She said, “Brother Shier, if you find anything, please share some with me.” She was also a bit greedy.
Guo Shier quickly replied, “Of course, hehe, definitely.”
Xian Ruidai knew Guo Shier wasn’t being sincere. Though she was smart and sensed there must be some mystery, she was still just a sixteen-year-old girl—how could she see through Guo Shier, who had experienced three lifetimes? She said, “Brother Shier, don’t lie to me! I hate it when people lie to me!”
Guo Shier nearly broke into a cold sweat. This little girl was truly cunning—not only beautiful but also extremely powerful. He said, “Alright, let’s keep going inside.”
Xian Ruidai nodded. “I remember there’s another altar ahead, but I encountered mutated maniac bats there and stopped moving forward. Sigh… My mutated maniac bats were eaten by your little birds! It’s so unfair!”
Guo Shier said, “Let’s go!” He didn’t dare talk to the little girl any longer.
The five of them flew low over the ground. There were more and more Spirit Beasts on the ground, including huge mutated ones. In the sky, there were also many mutated birds soaring, occasionally diving down to devour some of the Spirit Beasts on the ground.
Eagle Demon suddenly said, “There’s a fight ahead!”
Guo Shier immediately sped up. He could already see an altar. On this flat land, the altar stood out sharply. The altar in the distance resembled the pyramids from his past life, except its top wasn’t pointed but a platform. With just one glance, Guo Shier knew it was a high-level altar.
Xian Ruidai screamed, “A high-level altar!”
Even in the Secret Realm of Fierce Battles, high-level altars were rare. There were numerous Spirit Beasts around this altar, all of relatively high rank. There were also many flying Spirit Beasts in the sky. To enter, they would have to fight—it was impossible to sneak in.
Guo Shier stopped and said, “Wait!”
Xian Ruidai had already flown far ahead. Hearing this, she flew back and asked, “What’s wrong?” After all, she was young and hadn’t gone through as many secret realms and life-and-death battles as Guo Shier and the others.
Zhou Xiaoling said, “Sister Xian, there are too many Spirit Beasts ahead. We don’t know who provoked them to fight. Let’s observe first.”
Eagle Demon said, “There’s a small hill over there. Let’s go there.”

It was about seven hundred meters away from this small hill, and at their speed, they could reach it in an instant. But the small hill wasn’t a safe place—there was a level-7 mutated striped tiger on it. It was a Spirit Beast, over thirty meters long.
Guo Shier didn’t help but sigh, “The small hill…” This small hill was no different from the large mountains Guo Shier had seen in his past life; it had an elevation of at least three hundred meters, but here it was just considered a small hill.
The Eagle Demon rushed at the Spirit Beast.