Chapter 10: Eagle Demon’s Ascension (Part 1)

Guo Shier didn’t want to drive them away either. If they wanted to watch, let them. There was no loss anyway. Turning and entering his house, he saw Luo Zhan walking in circles in the yard. He quickly asked, “Uncle Luo, how is it?”
Seeing Guo Shier return, Luo Zhan breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Sigh, I was so worried…”
Guo Shier exclaimed, “Could something unexpected have happened?” He had a deep bond with the Eagle Demon and was naturally afraid of any mishaps.
Luo Zhan replied, “No, nothing unexpected. Pah! How could there be an accident?” He continued, “It’s just that the soul fluctuations are too intense. I’m… very worried.”
Ancestor Nan Qiang came in and said, “Intense soul fluctuations are a good sign. There’s no need to worry.”
Guo Shier called out through the soul fluctuations, “Elder Shuai, Elder Shuai…”
Elder Shuai replied impatiently, “I’m busy. What do you want from me? Don’t disturb me if you have nothing to do!”
Guo Shier quickly tried to please him, “Elder Shuai, sir, please help me sense whether Uncle Eagle Demon’s ascension went smoothly. Please help me, sir!”
Elder Shuai said, “Oh, it’s the little guy’s ascension? Alright, I’ll sense it. By the way, I’m Elder Shuai, not ‘sir’!”
At this moment, Guo Shier was very obedient. He repeated, “Yes, yes… You are Elder Shuai, not ‘sir’.” Even if Elder Shuai asked him to call him Ancestor Shuai, he wouldn’t hesitate. Since it involved the Eagle Demon’s ascension, he was somewhat anxious, fearing any accidents, which he absolutely couldn’t bear.
After sensing for a while, Elder Shuai said, “It’s fine, fine. Everything’s going well. He’s almost past the hardest part and will succeed in ascending soon. It seems he has a good inheritance.”
Guo Shier had never experienced such an ascension process. His own ascension had relied entirely on Gu Mu Lian and Elder Shuai, along with two natural runes, so it had been very smooth, and he couldn’t fathom the difficulties involved. He said, “Then I’m relieved. Hehe, it was quite scary. By the way, have any professionals failed in their ascension?” As soon as he said this, he realized he had asked a stupid question.
Sure enough, Elder Shuai sneered contemptuously, “Idiot, if ascension were that easy, there would be experts with Void Altars everywhere. How many have you seen so far? Countless have failed. This is a crucial hurdle that stops most professionals. There’s another hurdle too—ascending from the fifth layer to the sixth layer, which is also a life-or-death challenge.”

Guo Shier had traveled to so many places and met so many experts, but the only one who had truly seen an expert at the sixth-tier altar was Li Ran. As for Ancestor Nanqiang, he now doubted whether he was also stuck at this threshold.

The old man said, “Alright, I’m busy. Don’t bother me if there’s nothing important.”

Guo Shier felt relieved. Since the old man said it was fine, there was basically no need to worry. With his rich experience, he should be able to tell if there was a problem.

Ancestor Nanqiang smiled and said, “Pretty good inheritance. How long has it been?”

Luo Zhan replied, “Less than ten days.”

Ancestor Nanqiang nodded and said, “So fast… Good accumulation. Being able to advance quickly is also a sign of strength.” From this, he immediately guessed that the materials for the Eagle Demon were already ready and had been absorbed into its soul. Once it advanced, the Virtual Form Altar could be constructed right away.

Both Nanyou and Nangua showed a hint of envy on their faces. To be able to advance so easily meant this person’s soul must be extremely powerful. What they didn’t know was that because the Eagle Demon had spent so much time with Guo Shier, it could gain great benefits whenever Guo Shier chanted scriptures. Over the years, these benefits hadn’t been apparent, but when it came time to advance, they became evident.

There were various ways to increase soul power. The professionals in this world had a deep understanding of souls and used various methods to absorb and enhance their power. However, they had one major flaw: when soul power increased too quickly, they couldn’t control it, as their souls became chaotic and impure.

Guo Shier possessed a power that no one else in this world had—soul scriptures. By chanting them, he could easily purify his soul, making it cleaner and more powerful. During the chanting, anyone sitting beside him could also benefit greatly. This was one of the reasons why those around him could advance quickly.

Guo Shier didn’t say much more and simply sat cross-legged on the stone ground outside the room. Since this was a space created within a rock wall, the so-called courtyard was just a slightly larger area, not much different from a spacious room.Fú lights lights illuminated the ceiling, keeping the courtyard brightly lit.

Luo Zhan quickly laid down a thick layer of animal skin and said, “Ancestor, please sit.”

Ancestor Nan Qiang glanced at Luo Zhan and said in surprise, “Hey, you’re about to advance too?” He was shocked because he sensed that Luo Zhan’s soul was vast and pure, with extremely powerful soul energy—all hidden within his body. Without his extensive experience, he wouldn’t have noticed at all.

Ancestor Nan Qiang murmured to himself, wondering how Guo Shier, at such a young age, could have attracted two followers with such great potential. This kid really had good taste. Then he felt happy again, thinking that these three were now guests of the Gu Nan family—after all, they were part of the family.

Everyone sat cross-legged, waiting quietly. It was not the time to make noise.

As the souls inside the room fluctuated, everyone became immersed in them. Han Huang, unusually, didn’t talk nonsense but sighed softly, “Back in the day… I went through the same thing. After enduring countless dangers, I finally reached the peak of a professional. It wasn’t easy.”

Bo Luo Li said coldly, “The road ahead is even harder.” He still preferred to sit in the corner with his eyes closed, either cultivating or lost in thought.

In the evening, Ancestor Nan Qiang stood up and said, “I’m going back first. The most dangerous time has passed. There’s no need for everyone to stay here; nothing will happen.”

Guo Shier said, “You go ahead, Ancestor. I’ll wait a few more days to see how things go.”

Ancestor Nan Qiang nodded and said, “Don’t worry. I won’t need your help for a while yet.” With that, he walked out leaning on his cane, and the others followed. Nan You whispered, “I’m leaving first. Send me a message token if anything happens.”

Guo Shier nodded. “Okay. I think it won’t take many days before Uncle Eagle Demon stabilizes completely. I’ll come find you then.”

A moment later, only Guo Shier and Luo Zhan remained in the courtyard.

Luo Zhan was still worried and asked softly, “Is it really okay?”

Guo Shier patted his shoulder and said seriously, “I asked Old Shuai. He said it’s fine.” No matter what others said, Luo Zhan was still a bit uneasy. But since Old Shuai said it was fine, it must be true. That old man was extremely skilled, and Luo Zhan trusted him greatly. He nodded and said, “That’s good. Hehe.”

Guo Shier said, “You stay and guard the courtyard. I’ll go in for a moment.”

Luo Zhan was surprised and asked, “Go in?”

Guo Shier smiled slightly and said, “I can help Uncle Eagle Demon a bit. Hehe, don’t worry. I won’t hurt him.”

Luo Zhan trusted Guo Shier very much. He nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll guard the courtyard to prevent anyone from entering the room.” Guo Shier quietly entered the room. It was a suite, with the Eagle Demon sitting in the inner room. Only after entering did Guo Shier realize how intense the fluctuations of the Eagle Demon’s soul were. After observing for a while, he sat quietly in a corner and began reciting scriptures silently, his own soul starting to fluctuate as well. By helping the Eagle Demon refine its soul at this moment, once its virtual altar was established, its power could be increased by at least 30%. As the Eagle Demon’s soul fluctuated in response, it immediately realized that Guo Shier was helping. At this critical time, although the power of its soul was sufficient, the intense fluctuations disrupted its efforts to construct the virtual altar. Unexpecting Guo Shier to help at such a moment, it felt secretly grateful. The Eagle Demon managed to convey a message through soul fluctuations: “Continue, very good…” Guo Shier smiled slightly and continued reciting the scriptures. This was the only powerful weapon he had brought from his past life. The Eagle Demon’s soul gradually stabilized, and it sent another signal: “Alright, Shier, wait aside. When I need you, have your soul fluctuate again. I’m about to start constructing my own virtual altar.” All the materials had already been purified—by Old Shuai—and were of extremely high quality. After obtaining them, the Eagle Demon had stored them in its soul, integrating them with its own essence. This was also a secret tradition of the Gu Miluo family. By the time it was time to build a virtual altar, these materials would fit the soul perfectly, making construction easier and more successful. In fact, Guo Shier was also curious, as his altar hadn’t been built by him personally but with Old Shuai’s help; he only chanted incantations at critical moments. After all, it was his own altar, and some aspects couldn’t be replaced. Yet precisely because of this, he didn’t have much understanding of advancing to a virtual altar—he had directly advanced to a second-layer physical altar. The Gu Miluo family’s heritage was powerful, and if not for Old Shuai, Guo Shier would have followed their tradition to build a virtual altar. Now, only the Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan used these ancestral secrets. He had taken a different path of inheritance, and most strangely, the inheritor was actually his sacrificial spirit—a truly unique form of inheritance. Given the Eagle Demon’s temperament, its altar would be the simplest kind, as it didn’t need much complexity. What it needed was compatibility with the combat abilities of its martial profession, and a simple altar was easier to control.

Before this, Guo Shier had given him three copies of natural runes, which became the core of his altar. Now, he used the golden character and the flaming character as the core runes, with the Lei character as the framework rune. Once the ritual was successful, his altar would be more stable than ordinary altars.

Eagle Demon gradually built his altar. He infused the Lei character into refined Anluo stone to form the altar’s framework, then connected it with Blood Soul Stone and Storage Lattice Wood.

Guo Shier sat in the corner, observing carefully. Gradually, a translucent image appeared above Eagle Demon’s head—this was the projection of the altar he had constructed in his soul.

Eagle Demon’s altar was very strange; it was triangular, like a pyramid with its top cut off. However, while a pyramid has four corners, his altar had only three. Eagle Demon’s soul was also projected onto it, with his translucent image sitting on the altar as countless virtual runes were cast to gradually strengthen it.

It was evident that Eagle Demon was nervous, and Guo Shier silently encouraged him in his heart. He dared not be disturbed in the slightest, even controlling his breathing to keep it barely perceptible.

One virtual rune after another was cast. Eagle Demon’s technique was very unskilled, as he had always relied on martial rune skills in combat and rarely used spells. But at this stage, without his own virtual runes to reinforce it, he couldn’t successfully build the altar.

Fortunately, the inheritance he received was good enough for him to control, though the speed was a bit slow.

A large number of mutated human souls were incorporated into the altar. Using soul power to strengthen the altar was a necessary method for all professionals. He and Guo Shier had obtained many mutated human soul beads, which could be used to reinforce the altar.

Guo Shier’s soul fluctuated slightly: “Uncle Eagle Demon, here you go.”

Dozens of soul beads flew out, including those from the silver-threaded crocodile he had hunted this time. Eagle Demon reached out and grasped them virtually—he needed a large number of soul beads, and regardless of quality, an altar absolutely required sacrifices.

What was originally just a faint translucent image gradually solidified as more sacrifices were added.

Time passed slowly. After eight days, Eagle Demon finally completed the altar, his soul appearing extremely exhausted. Guo Shier recited the scriptures once again, and the fluctuations in his soul helped Eagle Demon relax. His once dim soul gradually became clearer as Guo Shier’s soul waves affected it.

Eagle Demon felt as if he were immersed in warm spring water, completely relaxed.

After relieving his fatigue, Eagle Demon continued to strengthen the altar.