Chapter 8: Capture (Part 1)

The Moon Blade swept down with a howling sound.
Guxi Bi had stopped struggling. It seemed unwell, as if pondering something, while its remaining tentacles danced in the air. Suddenly, a sharp howl rang out, and a crimson blade wheel spun downward. Due to its rapid rotation, it appeared like a red circular blade wheel suddenly emerging from the mist.
Guxi Bi let out a deafening roar and lashed out with dozens of its tentacles.
Clang! Clang! Clang…
With a loud crash, the Moon Blade struck not far from Guxi Bi. Guxi Bi forcefully pulled the Moon Blade out of its trajectory using its tentacles, then sent over a dozen more tentacles to seize it.
Guo Shier was stunned—Guxi Bi was competing with him for the Moon Blade! He snapped, “Looking for death!” He cast a spell and shouted, “Separate!” The Moon Blade instantly transformed into countless tiny blades, shooting in all directions like bombs, freeing itself from the tentacles in an instant.
The old man with the handsome appearance laughed and said, “I told you! The Moon Blade alone can’t deal with Guxi Bi. Kid, your tactics are too simplistic… Actually, your Moon Blade is quite good. You need to learn to use elemental powers, like this!” He cast hundreds of spells in a row and shouted, “Burn!”
Flames erupted in midair around the Moon Blade, and Guo Shier immediately understood. In fact, the Gu Miluo family’s traditions also included the use of elemental powers, but Guo Shier hadn’t paid much attention to them. He preferred to rely on brute force, as most people around him were martial artists who favored violence in battle, and he was influenced by them unconsciously.
The Moon Blade flew back into the air and reunited. The flames empowered by the old man burned fiercely on it, and Guo Shier swung it down again. This time, it was different from a simple strike—countless flames surrounded it as it descended, creating a much more formidable force. Guxi Bi dismissed this level of attack, but since it couldn’t move, it suffered greatly.
Boom!
Guxi Bi’s tentacles struck the Moon Blade, but were burned by the flames. The Moon Blade sliced through Guxi Bi’s body successfully. Guo Shier was shocked because he felt the Moon Blade lacked strength, as if slashing through cotton. Upon closer inspection, he saw Guxi Bi using countless tentacles to block it layer by layer. Each tentacle bounced slightly, and by the time the Moon Blade hit Guxi Bi, it had lost all its power, aside from the slight damage caused by the flames.
Guo Shier couldn’t help but curse, “Damn it! If this were a face-to-face fight, I’d be done for already!”

The handsome old man smiled and said, “See? Even with the power of fire added to it, you still couldn’t chop through it. You silly kid—think harder! What method should you use to attack? At your current level, you can handle ordinary professionals and ordinary mutated talisman beasts, but you’re not up to the task against advanced professionals and mutated talisman beasts.”

Guo Shieru pointed at the Moon Blade, which once again transformed into numerous tiny moon blades and flew back into the air. After some thought, Guo Shieru cast a few spells, and the moon blades suddenly turned into a whirlwind. Countless tiny moon blades whirled around, forming a blade tornado. This was a technique he had seen someone use during his time in the Fire Sect.

The handsome old man said, “Hmm, this form is decent. It’s much better than simply using the Moon Blade to chop.”

Guo Shieru shouted, “Go!”

The blade tornado descended violently. Driven by Guo Shieru’s effort, the tornado grew stronger and faster.

Guxi Bi let out eerie howls, frantically waving its tentacles. Unable to move—its strongest hundreds of tentacles were fixed to the ground—it had no way to fight back.

With a loud crash, the tornado struck Guxi Bi, producing a series of snapping sounds as its tentacles flew everywhere. In an instant, hundreds of tentacles were severed.

Suddenly, a thick tentacle shot out from Guxi Bi’s body and swung wildly, hitting the tornado right in the middle. With a loud explosion, the blade tornado shattered completely, and the foot-long moon blades scattered everywhere. Although many tentacles were cut, the tornado was now broken and unable to inflict effective damage.

Guo Shieru exclaimed, “What a formidable Guxi Bi!” The foot-long moon blades flew back into the air like fish, reassembling into a large Moon Blade.

The handsome old man said, “Your attack just now was several times more powerful than your initial attempt. Now you understand, right? Make good use of various methods. Simply chopping isn’t enough. You need to learn different techniques and use them wisely to achieve satisfactory results.”

Guo Shieru nodded. He understood the handsome old man’s good intentions—his guidance in battle was a hundred times better than his own solitary exploration. He said, “Let’s do it again!”

This time, he still used the tornado attack form, adding fire to the Moon Blade as well.

In an instant, the form of the tornado changed drastically. What was once a rapidly spinning blade vortex formed by the moon blades now contained countless tiny flames. These were flames created by infused virtual talismans—not as powerful as purple talisman fire, but still comparable to magma flows.

He drove the fiery vortex downward once more.

Guxi Bi was in a miserable state; it couldn’t move and could only resist desperately. This frustrating situation drove it into a rage. It was utterly infuriating—trapped on the ground, it could only strike wildly, like a strong man tied down while a child stabbed at him with a small knife.

Guo Shier understood now that if he encountered a Level 17 Spirit Beast, he should run away as far as possible right away. Even if he managed to bind it, he wouldn’t be able to kill it. His task was to shatter Guxi Bi’s shell and turn it back into a mass of spirit energy, but even that task seemed impossible for him.

After trying several different attack methods, he could only cut off a few hundred of Guxi Bi’s tentacles without harming its body. Feeling at a loss, Guo Shier said, “It’s too hard to fight… Old Man Shuai, I can’t kill it!”

Old Man Shuai laughed loudly. “Of course not! You’re a professional who hasn’t even built a Virtual Sacrificial Altar—how could you possibly kill a Level 17 Spirit Beast? I just wanted you to give it a try. If it has to be you to kill it, we’d better run away right away.”

Guo Shier replied, “Then please step in, sir. I really can’t do anything about it.” He sheathed his Moon Blade and sat cross-legged.

Old Man Shuai didn’t hesitate. “Watch closely. Hehe, actually, this talisman array can kill it.”

Guo Shier shook his head. He knew there was a huge gap between him and Old Man Shuai. Although Old Man Shuai only had one soul head left, his strength was still far greater than his own. If it weren’t for Gu Mo Lian’s prowess, he wouldn’t have had any chance against Old Man Shuai. He said, “As long as Guxi Bi is shattered, Gu Mo Lian can forcibly absorb it.”

Old Man Shuai chanted spells in succession. With a loud rumble, the entire array came alive, resembling a giant mill turning. Tan-colored air currents began to flow, gradually forming waves of attacks that swiftly cut through Guxi Bi.

Guo Shier asked, “What’s that?”

Old Man Shuai ignored him and continued to operate the array. The tan-colored air currents turned into countless tiny blades that washed over Guxi Bi like a tide. As someone who also mastered talisman arrays, Guo Shier could sense the mystery behind them. Each of those blade-like air currents was only the size of a fingernail, but there were countless of them.

Frequent cracking sounds filled the air. One tentacle after another shattered. Those tiny blades acted like highly corrosive poison, gradually eroding Guxi Bi’s body. Wave after wave of attacks washed over it, leaving Guxi Bi completely unable to resist as it slowly broke apart.

Guo Shier felt chills run down his spine—this method of killing was extremely fierce. He imagined that if he were to encounter such an attack within a talisman array, there would be no way he could survive. In a short while, all of Gu Xi Bi’s tentacles that had emerged from the ground melted away. Guo Shier was stunned and sighed, while the old man smiled triumphantly, saying, “This is Blade Tide. Hehe, you can learn it—it’s very effective.” Guo Shier replied, “I can’t split the Moon Blade into so many tiny blades.” The old man said, “You can. You just need to refine it again.” Suddenly, Gu Xi Bi began to struggle violently, causing the entire ground to tremble. The old man said, “Its last struggle… Hehe, it’s useless…” Guo Shier noticed that those tiny blades were gradually growing larger. He glanced at the old man and saw him continuously casting spells. The blades grew from the size of fingernails to the size of palms, then to the length of a foot, eventually turning into countless stone blades each a meter long. Somehow, the old man managed to produce an endless supply of these stone blades; even when they shattered, they quickly reformed into streams of blades that frantically cut through Gu Xi Bi’s massive body. The old man sighed and said, “Sigh, its power isn’t enough yet. In the past, I could have shattered it in one go, but now, with the talisman array, it still takes so long…” Guo Shier thought, “Go ahead and show off, damn it…” Yet, through this, he glimpsed a hint of the mysteries of those powerful beings—mysteries that were vastly different from the methods he knew. Eventually, Gu Xi Bi could no longer withstand the onslaught of the blade streams and began to collapse bit by bit. After a while, Gu Xi Bi turned into a mass of essence, which was wrapped by the thin threads extending from the Ancient Ink Lotus and forcibly pulled into it, landing at its peak. As Gu Xi Bi gradually reformed, even if it did reassemble, it would no longer pose any threat to Guo Shier. Once inside the Ancient Ink Lotus, it was completely under control—this was the magic of the Ancient Ink Lotus. Just like the old man, once dragged in, one became Guo Shier’s slave and could never leave unless Guo Shier allowed it. A one-meter-tall Gu Xi Bi reappeared and stretched out its long tentacles under the pressure of the Ancient Ink Lotus. When Guo Shier reached out to touch it, Gu Xi Bi’s tentacles immediately wrapped around him, bringing a cool sensation. Only then could he clearly see what Gu Xi Bi’s body looked like—it resembled a small mouse, with countless tentacles surrounding its body. The old man laughed and said, “Interesting, the Ancient Ink Lotus… Hehe, it’s even more powerful than I imagined.”

Guo Shier said, “Alright, there are a few more who followed in. What should we do?”
The old hero glanced at him strangely and said, “What do you mean, what to do? Just kill them!” His tone was as if he were talking about killing a few ants. Guo Shier felt a chill in his heart and said, “There’s no need. They’re all professionals.”