Chapter 4: Xiebaina Pearl (Part 1)

The old man had fully mastered the technique of breaking down the fragments of the sacrificial treasure. He said, “This sacrificial treasure is extremely powerful. Guo Shier, your luck is truly remarkable—great!”
Guo Shier asked, “What’s the name of this sacrificial treasure?” Since he couldn’t use it yet, he couldn’t understand its origins or history, and thus didn’t know its name.
The old man replied, “Its name is quite strange—it’s called Xiebaina Pearl.”
Guo Shier was stunned. He remembered that there was a type of red wine called Xiebaina in his past life. He said, “What? Xiebaina Pearl… Uh, it’s quite descriptive.”
Qian Ruidai raised her hand and asked, “Old man, can we watch you break down the fragments of the sacrificial treasure?”
The old man said, “No problem. With the Xiebaina Pearl, it’s easy to do.”
Everyone was overjoyed at the chance to see the old man break down the sacrificial treasure fragments. Even Zhang Yaojin, who had usually remained indifferent, showed some curiosity. The old man said, “Let’s do it outside. Kid, put away your talisman house—once we start breaking it down, the temperature around will rise rapidly.”
Guo Shier did as he was told and put away his talisman house.
The old man added, “Clear away the trees and weeds in the area. There must be no flammable items within a hundred meters.”
Luo Zhan said, “I’ll do it! Everyone, fly up and wait.” In just a moment, he cleared a space. For a professional like him, this was a trivial task—just stirring the ground with his life talisman blade was enough.
Guo Shier released the Ancient Ink Lotus, and the old man cast a spell. The Ancient Ink Lotus plunged deep into the ground, with only its top remaining above the surface. He cast another spell, and the Lotus quickly grew larger, reaching a diameter of ten meters before stopping, forming a platform of the same size on the ground.
The old man explained, “I need to absorb some of the earth’s properties. When breaking down the sacrificial treasure fragments, heat and waste need to be buried underground.”
Guo Shier didn’t fully understand these things and could only follow the old man’s instructions.
The old man’s soul had become solid enough to resemble a real person, though his body occasionally became translucent. Moreover, he couldn’t leave the Ancient Ink Lotus and could only move on its surface. This was a unique restraining effect of the Lotus—even Guo Shier couldn’t free him. Thus, the old man was destined to be Guo Shier’s laborer.
The old man stretched out one arm, palm up, holding the Xiebaina Pearl in his hand. The sacrificial treasure gradually floated in front of him. With a breath, the Pearl shrank to the size of a football. Guo Shier had tried to activate the Xiebaina Pearl before but had never succeeded.

The Xiebaina Pearl emitted a faint red glow, like a transparent glass ball with a wisp of white flame flickering inside. The handsome old man said, “This flame is truly remarkable—extremely rare…” As he spoke, he cast a spell. Countless runes gradually appeared on the pearl’s transparent shell.

With the old man’s spell, the Xiebaina Pearl began to change. Its spherical shell collapsed from the top, and the white flame burst out, emitting a whooshing sound. The air around it suddenly heated up, with waves of heat rolling outward, forcing Guo Shier and the others to take a step back.

The old man said, “This fire can threaten souls. Hehe, if I hadn’t fully mastered the Xiebaina Pearl, I wouldn’t dare approach it at all… Now there’s no problem.”

He tapped the pearl lightly, and the white flame intensified as if doused with oil, shooting straight upward. Guo Shier felt it was like the flame gun from his past life, only more powerful.

Xianru Dai exclaimed in surprise, “It’s so hot…” She had already activated her defense.

Guo Shier also activated his rune defense. Eagle Demon sneered, “Is this the power of a sacrificial treasure? It doesn’t seem that impressive.”

The old man scoffed, “You lack experience!” He had the right to mock anyone. Though this guy had lost a bit of his memory, he was still a true expert—a former professional priest who possessed knowledge far beyond those mere kids.

Eagle Demon remained silent; he knew he couldn’t compare to the old man.

The old man continued, “This rune flame may not be as aggressive as the purple rune flame, but its ability to decompose things is incredible. Though it appears as just a wisp of flame, it’s actually composed of thousands of flames—ranging from extremely cold flames to extremely hot dark flames, including the soul-burning flames unique to the Black Rune People. Hehe, all combined, it becomes a flame capable of decomposing sacrificial treasures. Even I can’t create such a flame.”

Everyone was astonished—composed of thousands of flames? Perhaps it was an exaggeration by the old man, but even if only a few hundred flames were combined, it was beyond their capabilities. They had never even thought of combining numerous flames, let alone how to do so.

The old man continued, “Watch carefully!” He cast another spell, and virtual runes landed on the Xiebaina Pearl. With a crisp crack, as if something had exploded, the white flame split into countless threads, twisting together and burning fiercely.

Guo Shier was utterly astonished. It was the first time he had seen such beautiful flames—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple—each thread of color distinct from the others. He was now convinced that the old man was right; this flame was indeed composed of thousands or even more flames. Yet he couldn’t understand why these flames gathered together like threads, intertwining as they burned without ever extinguishing. Everyone else found it equally miraculous.

The old man also showed signs of surprise. Although he could demonstrate it, that didn’t mean he had seen it before; this was his first time encountering such flames as well. He couldn’t help but say, “This person is truly amazing… Kid, do you know who created this?”

Guo Shier smiled bitterly. “It’s the person you look down on… a master from the ancient Miluo family, given to me as an inheritance.”

The old man said, “I take back what I said earlier. There are indeed truly formidable masters in the ancient Miluo family! Just this sacrificial treasure alone proves how powerful they are!”

Xian Ru Dai was very curious. She blinked her big eyes at Guo Shier, thinking, “Hmph, so it’s someone from the ancient Miluo family. And he still claims to be a wandering professional!”

The old man said, “The Jiebaina Pearl has many other functions as well. Hehe, I won’t demonstrate them all. You can watch… how the Jiebaina Pearl breaks down the fragments of the sacrificial treasure.”

Everyone stepped to the edge of Gu Mu Lian. Though the flame seemed small, the heat wave it generated was terrifying, spreading outward in waves. The remaining wood and dry grass on the ground had already withered, some even starting to smoke. Guo Shier estimated that the temperature was at least five or six hundred degrees, if not eight hundred.

The old man flipped his palm and took out a fragment. It was a palm-sized piece of the sacrificial treasure, considered relatively large; even larger ones could be called debris. He said, “Watch closely.” With a flick of his finger, he shot the fragment into the flame.

The old man’s aura suddenly changed. From his previously casual demeanor, he became extremely imposing. A massive spiritual pressure spread out, so strong that even Guo Shier couldn’t resist it and had to take a step back. One more step, and he would fall off the top platform of Gu Mu Lian. Ying Mo whispered, “Wow!”

Guo Shier was extremely terrified, guessing just how powerful the old man must have been before his death. Once one turned into a soul state, their strength would decline significantly—even though his soul was now solidified, it could only reach 20-30% of his former strength at most. Just this regained strength was already unbearable for Guo Shier and the others, giving an idea of how formidable the old man must have been originally.

Xianru Dai muttered softly, “What a powerful old man… Scaring people again!”

The fragment of the sacrificial treasure hung above the Jie Bainazhu, with strands of flame quickly wrapping around it. Tens of thousands of flame threads instantly enveloped the fragment, as everyone watched in astonishment. This was both the simplest and most difficult method of decomposition—using flames could easily destroy the item being decomposed if not handled carefully. Yet the flames within the Jie Bainazhu had a magical property: those tens of thousands of flame threads could distinguish between the materials in the sacrificial treasure and avoid burning those that needed to be decomposed.

The old man explained, “…Though the sacrificial treasure is extremely durable, it can’t withstand such flames at all. Watch carefully…”

Within just a few minutes, the fragment began to crumble into countless tiny particles. The old man kept chanting spells, gradually decomposing the materials inside the fragment. He said, “Using the Jie Bainazhu, most precious materials can be extracted, though some remain undecomposed. Hehe, usually, it’s already quite good if one-third of the materials from a fragment can be obtained. With the Jie Bainazhu, we can get at least half, maybe even more. Once this fragment is completely decomposed, we’ll know the result.”

Ten minutes later, the old man had obtained thirteen types of materials—not a large amount. After examining them carefully, he smiled and said, “Less than two-thirds—quite good. It’s a pity that a few materials were burned away.”

Around the Jie Bainazhu, more than a dozen white jade boxes floated, into which the decomposed materials fell. One after another, fragments of the sacrificial treasure were thrown into the flames. The old man kept replacing the jade boxes; it was unclear when he had made so many of them—small rectangular boxes about the size of a palm, clearly blessed with hidden talismans.

Since there were many fragments and remnants from this time, it would take a whole day to decompose them all. At night, Guo Shier sat on the platform of the Ancient Ink Lotus, reciting scriptures, while the others sat around him, feeling the fluctuations of their souls and refining theirs. During the day, the old man would come out to continue decomposing the fragments.

It took a total of nineteen days to process all the sacrificial treasure fragments. The handsome old man also helped Xian Rudi analyze the fragments she had found, which made the little girl extremely happy.