Chapter 2: The Great Beast Team (Part 2)

“This time, our main battlefield is on Grandmaster Nan Qin’s side. I’ll go there too. Grandmaster Guo will still be in charge of this side. You just need to hold off their grandmaster. We’ll send a Great Beast Team here—thousand mutated iron-armored bulls—should be enough to draw most of their attention.”
Guo Shier said, “There’s no problem on my side. As long as they don’t send two grandmasters, everything else doesn’t matter.” He stood up and added, “I’ll go back and rest for a while. Please send someone to call me in three days.” Then he returned to his camp with Eagle Demon and the others.
Back in his camp, Guo Shier brought out the altar and said, “Old Shuai, it’s not that I don’t want to go to that side. With so many experts there, you won’t have a chance to collect souls. It’s better here. After all, I’m a grandmaster, and no one would dare question my actions.”
Old Shuai replied, “Silly guy! There are two Great Beast Teams on that side—how many people do we need to kill? It’s a shame… all those souls can’t be collected. What a waste!”
Guo Shier said, “Don’t be too greedy. Enough is enough.”
Old Shuai sighed dejectedly, “Fine, whatever you say. I’m still accumulating soul beads for you. Such opportunities don’t come around often.” He picked up a soul bead and merged it into his own soul. He too could feel the thrilling pleasure of souls, saying, “Heh, I can’t use too many either. No wonder the Black Symbol people can advance quickly. The souls they steal are truly irresistible.”
Guo Shier was stunned. He knew Old Shuai was right—such opportunities were indeed rare. He couldn’t possibly go out of his way to obtain professionals’ souls. Collecting them on the battlefield was still acceptable, but deliberately hunting down professionals was absolutely out of the question.
He said, “Old Shuai, it’s not that I don’t want soul beads. I just feel uncomfortable about it. Well, it’s fine if you collect them. But if I had to do it myself, that feeling… it’s simply unbearable.”
Old Shuai rolled his eyes and cursed, “Hypocrite!”
Guo Shier was furious. Grumbling, he said, “You’re the hypocrite! Your whole family is hypocrites! Well, fine. I realize I also have a tendency to be hypocritical… Alright, alright. If I get the chance, I’ll collect soul beads, but I’ll only do it passively. I’ll never hunt them actively.”

The handsome old man smiled broadly and said, “Hehe, that’s much better. Don’t give up on what you deserve. If you keep being so whiny, it’s annoying to watch. Alright, I won’t scold you this time.” The handsome old man shook his head proudly. It was no small feat to get Guo Shier to back down. He felt extremely satisfied with this victory—more so than just scolding someone.

Guo Shier didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and cursed inwardly at this heartless old man. Yet he still admired him greatly—this old man knew how to seize opportunities and make decisive moves; he was truly formidable.

The handsome old man wasn’t satisfied yet. He said, “Kid, have you talked to that so-called Nanqiang Ancestor? If you follow them, there will definitely be more dead people there… This is just a feint, not a full-scale attack. Even if there are deaths… there will be far fewer.”

Guo Shier replied, “Stop talking. Once this side’s feint is stabilized, we’ll go over there.”

The handsome old man thought for a moment before nodding. “Hmm, that works too. Hehe, that should be when there are the most deaths.”

Guo Shier smiled bitterly. “If they find out we’re doing this for the Soul Beads… I reckon the Nanqiang Ancestor will be furious.”

The handsome old man asked, “Do you plan to live here forever?”

Guo Shier said, “How could that be? We’ll leave soon. I still need to go home.”

The handsome old man chuckled. “Exactly. Since you’re not planning to stay here permanently, why worry so much?”

Guo Shier sighed and stopped explaining. But he had already made up his mind. In this world, strength was everything. He had understood this clearly since entering the Beifu Sect. Moreover, he knew he had only seen a fraction of this world.

The handsome old man said, “There are three days left. Take one Soul Bead every day and practice. I reckon your soul power will increase a bit. At your level, it’s very difficult to raise your soul power without a year of hard training.”

Since ascending to the second-tier altar, Guo Shier had realized his soul power was far too weak. Without the help of the handsome old man, controlling the second-tier altar would have been extremely difficult for him. But after using one Soul Bead, he noticed his soul power starting to rise rapidly. After a quick calculation, he realized that by taking a certain number of Soul Beads, he could achieve a soul power level matching that of the second-tier altar.

I have to say the old man is amazing. After calculating the benefits of the Soul Beads, Guo Shier realized that they could save him at least dozens of years of cultivation time, allowing him to quickly reach a soul power level suitable for a second-tier altar. With the right materials, he could then construct a third-tier altar. Such a fast pace of cultivation was an irresistible temptation for him.

Guo Shier said, “Alright, we’ll act in three days.”

……

A total of three Soul Beads were used. Guo Shier’s soul felt saturated; he understood he couldn’t continue using them and might need to wait for some time before using them again. Fortunately, the fluctuations in the Soul Scriptures offset the drawbacks of absorbing souls. According to the old man, if other professionals used Soul Beads like Guo Shier, they could advance quickly but would suffer severe consequences.

Guo Shier brought Eagle Demon, Luo Zhan, and Nan You to the battlefield, where they saw the massive army of mutated Iron-Armored Wild Bulls. The vast army, positioned at the back of the main forces, gave Guo Shier a profound sense of shock. A thousand third-tier mutated Iron-Armored Wild Bulls—once they launched an attack—could cause unimaginable devastation.

Guo Shier glanced at the army and asked, “Nan You, does the Gujin Family have a massive army?”

Nan You smiled and replied, “Yes, but they can’t deploy it.”

Guo Shier tapped his head, realizing he had been too absorbed in cultivation lately. It seemed Nan Qiang, the ancestral master, had once said something similar. He asked, “How can we resist the impact of a massive army?”

Nan You said, “By forming a team of Great Sage Masters or experts above the Virtual Form Altar level. Hehe, but since we’re holding back those experts above the Virtual Form Altar level, if the enemy uses Great Sage Masters to deal with our massive army, even a one-to-two or one-to-three ratio would be a huge advantage for us.”

“Actually, the best way is to use defensive talisman arrays to block the impact of the Iron-Armored Wild Bulls, preventing them from forming an effective attack formation. That’s how we can contain their force.”

Guo Shier said, “Oh, in that case, the power of a massive army isn’t that formidable.”

Nan You smiled and said, “Generally, they don’t have particularly powerful attack methods. After all these years of war, aside from ancestral master-level experts who need to be checked by other ancestral master-level experts, no other force can shake the balance of the war. Ancestral masters are the most elite and powerful fighters in each family. If an ancestral master-level expert isn’t held in check and is allowed to act freely… then the entire army can easily collapse.”

Eagle Demon, sitting on his altar, said, “They’re here!”

In the high skies above, a group of professionals appeared—top experts from the Gujin Family, standing atop their virtual altars. Guo Shier felt that the fighting style here was quite strange: super experts fighting against other super experts, ordinary professionals fighting against others, with no interference between them unless a super expert emerged victorious. Even then, super experts rarely attacked ordinary professionals unless their own side was on the back foot.

It was like two separate battlefields. If the top experts on one side were defeated, it would deal a heavy blow to their own side.

Guo Shier sat on the altar, with Luo Zhan sitting behind him, along with half of Shuai Lao Tou’s body visible. As a guest patriarch of the Gunan Family, his task was simple: defeat or hold back the opponent’s patriarch so that he couldn’t attack the ordinary professionals.

Luo Zhan said, “This is just a harassment battle; nothing too intense will happen.”

Guo Shier nodded slightly and said, “The strengths of both sides are roughly equal. Even if the Beast Team comes in, they won’t gain much advantage. Hehe, even if the Gujin Family wants to launch a major attack, seeing the Beast Team… I guess they’ll back down. With defensive formations, they can hold out for a while. In open combat, with the impact of the Iron-Armored Bulls, even the largest teams can be scattered. They’re not that stupid.”

Eagle Demon said, “It’s started!”

On the ground, the armies began to move. This time, it was the Gunan Family launching the attack. The Gujin Family was on the defensive, having built a defensive magic array. To Guo Shier, it resembled the trench fortifications from his past life—just by relying on these defenses, the defending forces’ strength would increase significantly.

The top experts on both sides remained motionless, perched above their respective camps, watching the battle below quietly.

Guo Shier cast a vision-enhancing spell on himself and observed carefully. He found that Hu Zhihui wasn’t there; instead, another expert from a four-story altar was there. Due to the great distance, he could only faintly see it was a four-story altar, which seemed somewhat familiar. He asked, “Shuai Lao Tou, who’s that guy at the four-story altar over there? Can you see clearly?”

Shuai Lao Tou glanced at it once and laughed. He said, “An old acquaintance. Hehe, it’s that Jin Longqing. Interesting—why is he here? Last time, we made him flee in panic… Kid, go give him a taste of his own medicine.”

Jin Longqing was also a bit puzzled. He had received reports that Hu Zhihui, the newly hired grandmaster-level guest expert of their family, had left after just one battle without saying goodbye, directly departing from the Chijin Continent via the talisman gate. So he had come all the way from Daqian Fort to investigate the reason for Hu Zhihui’s departure. After all, it wasn’t easy to recruit a grandmaster-level guest expert. He didn’t think Hu Zhihui had been defeated by him; perhaps he had been driven away by some reckless member of their family.

As soon as he arrived at the camp, he received news of the Gunan Family’s attack. So he brought a group of experts to reinforce them. He had no idea that the enemy was that annoying Guo Shier.

Jin Longqing frowned and said, “That’s strange… Their attack strength is weak. They seem fierce, but they’re not giving it their all. Huh, what’s that?”

A plume of dust rose in the distance. Given that the area was lush with vegetation and had a humid climate, it was rare to see dust rise, yet the dust in the distance was quite large. An expert beside him, standing on a two-story altar, said, “Hidden in the woods… We can’t see them. They’re coming out… Sigh! That’s bad—it’s the Beast Team!”

At that moment, Jin Longqing also saw clearly. He gritted his teeth and said, “What a bold move… They even brought in the Beast Team. Everyone, remember—once one person can free themselves, ignore everything else and immediately try to eliminate this Beast Team!”

“Yes!”

The group of experts replied respectfully. Jin Longqing stared at the enemy and asked, “Who is the grandmaster of the Gunan Family here?”

An expert standing on a virtual altar said, “It seems there’s no grandmaster-level expert.” They didn’t consider Guo Shier a grandmaster. Although he had driven away Hu Zhihui, they didn’t think Guo Shier posed a threat. They also looked down on Hu Zhihui—an expert on a three-story altar being defeated by one on a two-story altar was simply pathetic.

Jin Longqing suddenly felt uneasy. He said, “What? No grandmaster-level expert? Could it be…” He suddenly realized and asked, “Could it be that this isn’t the main attack direction?”

A hint of panic appeared on everyone’s faces. If this wasn’t the main attack direction, then those fighting against the Gunan Family’s army on the other side would be in danger.

Jin Longqing shouted, “We can’t delay any longer. Let’s charge over. If we can quickly defeat their experts, we can attack the army below. Send someone to inform the commander to prepare for a full-scale attack. Once we defeat their experts, they should launch the attack immediately! Hmph, daring to bluff—having no grandmaster-level experts at all is simply seeking death!”

A group of altar experts suddenly moved, rushing at Guo Shier and the others who were still watching.