Chapter 6: Setting Traps (Part 1)

Hanbing Baiyan shouted, “Let’s retreat!” A dark shadow rushed toward them from afar—it was another Spirit Beast. Though they couldn’t see what kind, even these great sage masters surely couldn’t deal with it.
Tian Baiyan also saw the dark shadow. He cried, “Don’t panic! Go! I’ll hold them off!” He knew the loud noises from the battle had attracted other Spirit Beasts. It was no longer possible to continue fighting—they had no chance against two Spirit Beasts.
Hanbing Baiyan said, “Fourth Brother, I’ll hold them off. You go!”
Tian Baiyan roared in anger, “Get out! Take them with you…”
Hanbing Baiyan didn’t dare disobey. Hating his own helplessness, he cursed, “Damn it… Let’s go!” He led the other great sage masters to fly low across the ground. How could the Iron-Armored Bull let go of those who had hurt it? It turned around and chased after them.
Tian Baiyan shouted, “Beast!”
The Great Golden Cone was thrown out, followed by a series of spells. Instantly, it transformed into thousands of gleaming golden cones, all stabbing at the Iron-Armored Bull’s head. Tian Baiyan aimed at its eyes.
The Bull’s huge head swung rapidly, producing a loud clanging sound that sent the golden cones flying in all directions. The shockwave nearly made Tian Baiyan spit blood. He controlled the golden cones, attacking frantically to blind the Bull’s eyes. That area was the Bull’s strongest defensive point—impossible to penetrate.
Aoh!
The Iron-Armored Bull sensed a severe threat. It suddenly stopped chasing, turned sharply, and accidentally knocked Tian Baiyan away. He was right beside the Bull; he never expected it to turn so suddenly and was flung aside.
Moo! Moo…
Though knocked and spitting blood, Tian Baiyan’s injuries weren’t serious. His two layers of defense absorbed most of the impact, leaving little force to affect him. After spitting out some blood, he recovered. Only then did he clearly see what the pursuing shadow was.
A mutated one-horned black rhinoceros. This Spirit Beast was also level 15, slightly smaller than the Iron-Armored Bull, with a body length of about 170 meters. Tian Baiyan took the chance to retreat. Both were bulls—one with one horn, the other with two. He was glad; a fight between the two Spirit Beasts was a great opportunity. He hid in a deep ditch and sent a message token.
Soon, Hanbing Baiyan arrived with his men and slipped into the ditch.

Hanbing Baiyan spotted the blood at Tian Baiyan’s lips and exclaimed anxiously, “Fourth brother, are you hurt?” He stepped forward to support him, but Tian Baiyan waved his hand, saying, “It’s a minor injury, nothing serious.”
Boom!
The ground trembled. Hanbing Baiyan asked in shock, “What happened?”
Tian Baiyan smiled and said, “A Level 15 Spirit Beast has arrived—a One-Horned Black Rhinoceros. Hehe, it’s a fair match. We might have a chance. Let’s wait here and watch.”
A group of people crouched by the ditch to peek.
……
Guo Shier waited all day until the old master sent a spiritual signal before returning upstairs and asking, “Old master, are you done?”
The old master said proudly, “It was simple. Everything’s done. Take your people and set up traps. Everything is in your Spirit Storage Talisman. Here’s another piece of inheritance for you.” He handed him more inheritance.
Guo Shier glanced through it briefly; it seemed quite simple. Doubtful, he asked, “Old master, is it really that simple?”
The old master replied, “How more complicated could it be? Sometimes simplicity is the most effective.”
Guo Shier said, “Alright, I’ll set up the traps according to your plan.” He gently tapped the Ancient Ink Lotus, which quickly shrank, spun a few times, flew to the top of his head, and vanished into his soul. Leaving the Ancient Ink Lotus outside for too long made his soul feel empty.
When the Ancient Ink Lotus returned to his soul, Guo Shier felt a sense of satisfaction, as if he had finally eaten after being hungry for a long time. He took a deep breath. At that moment, Zhang Yaojin and his group returned.
Xian Ruidai hadn’t even entered the room yet, but her voice was already heard, “Zhang Yaojin, you lost!”
Zhang Yaojin’s voice was calm. He said, “If I lost, so be it. I’ve been unlucky lately; nothing goes right for me. It’s normal to lose.”
Xian Ruidai giggled, “You lost… Hey, Sister Dingding, we didn’t set any stakes! It was just a bet!”
Zhou Xiaoling laughed, “That’s right. It seems we didn’t set any stakes.”
Then they heard the laughter of Ying Mo and Luo Zhan as they entered the room. Guo Shier said, “Betting without setting stakes—how careless of you. This bet is void.”
Zhang Yaojin said, “At least my mood’s better now. Umm, I’ve been so unlucky lately; nothing works. Could this be a turning point?” He slapped his head hard and said, “No stakes… Haha, I like it…”
Xian Ruidai said, “If you win, it just proves you’re still extremely unlucky. Well, it seems like a turning point after all.” She didn’t want to see a gloomy guy all the time either; it would be good if he could feel a bit more balanced.

Zhang Yaojin sat down on theanimal skin mat, stretched, and said, “Guo Shier, when will we start setting up the traps? Waiting is so annoying.” He was determined to find the altar—there were numerous altars in the area occupied by Gu Xi Bi. It would be great if one of them could erase the original inheritance.

Guo Shier replied, “Let’s start setting them up now. I need everyone’s help.”

The direction and location were determined by the old man Shuai, so Guo Shier just needed to carry out the plan. It was about two kilometers away from where Gu Xi Bi was, separated by altar mounds and similar obstacles. As long as the noise wasn’t too loud, it wouldn’t alert Gu Xi Bi. Even Guo Shier didn’t understand why an ambush had to be set up here.

A talisman pillar was planted every 400 meters. After placing eight pillars in the correct positions, Guo Shier realized they enclosed a large area. He then arranged countless talismans, including twelve concealment talismans.

One by one, the talismans were driven into the ground. With everyone’s help, the setup was completed in a few hours.

Standing at the center of the trap, Guo Shier began to emit virtual talismans to activate the entire formation. There were twenty-four sets of virtual talismans, with each set containing one million eight hundred thousand virtual talismans. Through the old man Shuai’s training, Guo Shier was no longer too afraid of such a large number of talismans. He summoned the Ancient Ink Lotus and stood on it, starting to emit the virtual talismans.

The old man Shuai appeared on the Ancient Ink Lotus, looking up at Guo Shier. After a moment, he stretched half of his body out and began emitting virtual talismans as well.

The virtual talismans ignited the talisman array. The lines formed by the virtual talismans connected the talismans buried underground. As Guo Shier emitted the last virtual talisman, the entire formation flickered slightly. The old man Shuai said, “That’s it, Guo Shier. You can go down now. Leave the Ancient Ink Lotus here. Hopefully, it will work on the first try.”

Guo Shier flew down from the Ancient Ink Lotus. Looking back, he saw it sink into the ground, leaving only a small part above the surface, quickly forming an inconspicuous mound.

Returning to the ravine, Guo Shier said, “Let’s rest today and come back tomorrow morning.”

……

The Iron-Clad Bull and the One-Horned Black Rhinoceros, two Spirit Beasts, attacked each other frantically.

Hanbing Baiyan and Tian Baiyan watched in pale faces. They had taken refuge a kilometer away to barely avoid the aftermath of the battle between the two Spirit Beasts. Hanbing Baiyan said, “Amazing… I never thought Spirit Beasts could be so monstrous.” During the fight, he hadn’t felt much, but watching from afar made his heart freeze with fear.

Both spirit beasts were extremely powerful, with simple attack methods—just charging at each other. Thus, the battle was evenly matched as they collided back and forth, shaking the ground and producing continuous explosive noises that were terrifying to hear. The two spirit beasts had grown enraged and were charging at each other frantically.

Tian Baiyan said with a smile, “Very good, excellent. I can see their spirits are unstable; that outer shell is starting to loosen.”

There was a characteristic in the battles of spirit beasts: once their physical forms were damaged to a certain extent, they would revert to a mass of spirit. This was their weakest state, as they needed to reorganize themselves into a new spirit beast, during which their strength would drop significantly. When they became just a mass of spirit, it was their most dangerous time—they might be devoured by another spirit beast or captured by professionals.

Hanbing Baiyan said, “What a good opportunity! Luckily we stepped back. Hehe, if we’re lucky this time, we might get quite a few Spirit Bead.”

Tian Baiyan sighed, “It’s a shame we can’t capture the entire spirit beast; otherwise, its value would be even higher.”

Hanbing Baiyan replied, “There’s no way. Only by inviting a master from the Gu family could we possibly capture it. If we could advance further… well, that would be difficult… But getting the Spirit Bead of a level-15 spirit beast means this trip wasn’t in vain.” Both of them were high-ranking Great Sage Masters, just one step away from reaching the Void Spirit Mirror level, but they were stuck at that threshold.

One of the Great Sage Masters said, “Look! The Iron-Armored Bull’s body is about to break!”

Everyone became excited. After more than a dozen fierce collisions, countless cracks had appeared on the Iron-Armored Bull’s body. Suddenly, it turned and ran away, while the One-Horned Black Rhinoceros roared and chased after it.

Hanbing Baiyan said, “Good! Let’s follow them.”

Tian Baiyan shouted, “Follow them! Let’s see how lucky we are.” He knew that even if the Iron-Armored Bull was destroyed, they might not have many chances, but it was still an opportunity they couldn’t give up. What he didn’t know was that the direction the Iron-Armored Bull was running in was exactly where Gu Xibin was.

After running just a kilometer, the Iron-Armored Bull’s body fully healed, and it turned to charge at the One-Horned Black Rhinoceros. It wasn’t fleeing at all; it was trying to stabilize the cracks in its body. As long as spirit beasts had time, they could heal from any kind of damage.

Boom!

The two different bulls clashed again.

Guo Shier stood at the center of the talisman array. After resting for a day, he was ready to begin luring Gu Xi Bi. Qian Ru Dai asked, “Brother Shier, are you just going to stand here waiting for Gu Xi Bi? It won’t come to the trap on its own.” Eagle Demon laughed and said, “Shier must have an idea; otherwise, he wouldn’t have set up this talisman array.”
Guo Shier nodded and said, “I’ll use the Giant Perching Dragon to attract Gu Xi Bi. It’s my only option. I hope it will work.”
Zhou Xiaoling said, “With the level of the Giant Perching Dragon, it’s likely difficult to attract Gu Xi Bi. There must be other ways.”