Chapter 2: The Belly of the Bone Mountain (Part 1)

Li Ran pointed at the mountain peak and said, “Don’t you find those blood streaks rising from that opening on the peak a bit strange? I think there must be something special beneath that mountain pass. I can’t just leave without checking it out…” Hearing this, Guo Shier and Zhen Wuji understood immediately.
Guo Shier said, “Hmm, I want to go check it out too. Hehe, wealth comes from danger. Brother Li Ran, you lead the way… I’ll follow.” He thought to himself that such a huge Bone Mountain must have taken countless years to form, and there surely were some extraordinary things inside—he had to search for them no matter what.
Zhen Wuji also became interested. If there were no treasures in such a place, he wouldn’t believe it. He kept saying, “Let’s go, let’s go and take a look!”
Li Ran asked, “Where have Hong Yu Guang and Hong Mu gone?”
Guo Shier laughed, “They’re still picking things off the mountain. This time they’ll probably get rich. Hehe, with so many advanced mutated talisman beasts and abnormal talisman beasts, it’s hard to say when they’ll finish collecting them.”
All three knew that as the mutated and abnormal talisman beasts disappeared, a large number of professionals would flood into the Ice Plains, turning this place into a battlefield again. With so many materials available, no family would miss out.
Li Ran said, “Then let’s ignore them. Let them search for things on their own. We’ll head to the mountain pass.”
Back at the entrance of the Bone Mountain peak, Guo Shier peered down and said, “It’s bottomless… Could it lead all the way to the bottom of the mountain?”
Li Ran laughed, “How can we know unless we go down? Let’s go!” In a flash, he disappeared from his spot. Zhen Wuji grinned at Guo Shier and also flew down.
Guo Shier thought, “If you can go down, so can I!” Being more cautious, he flew down while sitting on the altar.
The three of them fell down through the mountain pass.
Guo Shier sat on the altar and slapped its top, instantly making the entire altar glow brightly. The passage of this mountain pass was enormous, with a diameter of several kilometers. The cave walls weren’t made of rock or soil but of countless bones—most of them huge skeletons, looking extremely astonishing.
Under the glow of the altar’s talisman light, a dim white light reflected everywhere, creating an extremely gloomy atmosphere.

Guo Shier didn’t have a specific idea of how tall this bone mountain was, but he knew it was extremely high. As they descended, the passage gradually widened. It was a huge passage that narrowed at the top and widened at the bottom, like a giant bottle with a completely empty interior. Gradually, Guo Shier realized that the light emitted by his altar could no longer reach the cave walls, leaving everything around in darkness.

Li Ran suddenly shouted, “Stop! Stop!”

Guo Shier immediately halted the altar and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Zhen Wuji said, “There’s something down there!”

Guo Shier’s heart trembled. The presence of something in such a place was no joke. He cast a vision-enhancing spell and looked down. Everything below was pitch black, and he had no idea how deep it was. Unable to see clearly, he asked, “What is it?”

Li Ran said, “Heh, I only know it’s Spirit Beasts—countless of them… And they’re trapped by something, able to move only within a very small area. Interesting…”

Guo Shier perked up. “Spirit Beasts? Those are great! They can be captured directly as sacrifices. Moreover, their combat strength differs from that of mutated talisman beasts; without a physical body, their strength generally decreases significantly. Of course, some Spirit Beasts aren’t very powerful when mutated, but once they revert to their true form, their true strength emerges, just like the ancient Xi Bi.”

Everyone knew the importance of sacrifices. With so many Spirit Beasts down there, all three couldn’t help but become tempted. Guo Shier said with a smile, “Let’s go down and collect them!”

Li Ran said, “There are so many… too many to collect all at once. Let’s collect them from the edges. Be careful not to fall in—once trapped, even I’ll have trouble dealing with it.”

Guo Shier replied, “We’ve already collected quite a few Spirit Bead orbs outside. Let’s just collect as many as we can here.”

Li Ran said, “Okay, let’s go down! Shier, follow me…”

Zhen Wuji added, “Let’s go together. We’ll form a triangular talisman array for better safety.”

Li Ran agreed, “That’s a good idea. I’ll be at the front, Shier on the left rear, and Zhen Wuji, you on the right rear. We’ll go down together.” The three quickly formed the array. Li Ran cast a spell as the attack endpoint of the array, while Guo Shier and Zhen Wuji took charge of defense from the sides.

A few minutes later, Guo Shier did manage to see clearly what was below. Even though he had witnessed many spectacular scenes, his heart still pounded wildly. This was the true Sea of Beasts—a sea formed by Soul Beasts. These Soul Beasts seemed to be restrained by something, allowing them to move only below, and they were organized into different layers, not interfering with each other.

At the top were the Soul Beasts of mutated and aberrant birds, flying in flocks through the air. From afar, they resembled swarms of mosquitoes or schools of fish, constantly gathering and dispersing in the sky, which was enough to make one’s scalp tingle and feel chilled.

Zhen Wuji laughed, “Great! I now have all the sacrifices I need. I won’t have to worry about this anymore, haha.” His eyes were filled with excitement.

Every altar-level professional struggled with finding sacrifices. Killing a mutated Symbol Beast wasn’t easy, especially high-level ones, which were extremely difficult to hunt. Compared to hunting them, the biggest challenge for altar-level professionals was locating them. In a secret realm, with good luck, one might find a few high-level mutated Symbol Beasts. But in many secret realms and continents, there were none at all. Thus, good sacrifices were something every professional desired.

Even skilled professionals like Li Ran and Zhen Wuji faced this dilemma. Fortunately, both were super experts, so any high-level mutated Symbol Beast they encountered couldn’t escape their attacks. As a result, they had accumulated quite a number of sacrifices, but it was still far from enough for them. The higher the rank of a professional, the more sacrifices they needed.

The Sea of Soul Beasts before them could all be used as sacrifices. Though extremely dangerous, all three knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To give it up would be foolish—they must obtain some flesh at all costs.

With Li Ran’s strength, he didn’t dare to go too deep. There were so many Soul Beasts here—it wasn’t something to be taken lightly. If they attacked endlessly, no one could withstand them. Unlike mutated Symbol Beasts, Soul Beasts were formed from essence. Even if shattered, they would reassemble and launch another attack.

The method of capturing Soul Beasts was simple: shatter them and seize them before they could reassemble. Among the three, Guo Shier was originally the weakest, but thanks to his magical Soul Beast, Gu Xi Bi, his capture speed was actually the fastest.

Li Ran’s massive palm struck out, shattering hundreds of Spirit Birds in succession. Guo Shier’s Gu Xi Bi immediately showed its power, capturing most of them in just a few breaths. Li Ran couldn’t help but envy, “Shier, it’s still your Gu Xi Bi that’s the strongest!”
The groups of mutated birds were shattered by Li Ran and Zhen Wuji, after which the three of them quickly moved forward, sweeping away those shattered clusters of spirits in an instant. They kept moving without pause. As more and more Spirit Birds chased after them, Guo Shier took the lead, with Li Ran and Zhen Wuji following behind.
Guo Shier didn’t even have time to identify what kind of spirit beasts they were, but the first wave to attack were undoubtedly snow-carved spirit beasts—there were the most of them, coming in dense waves, layer upon layer.
Li Ran and Zhen Wuji kept attacking, and in just a short while, Guo Shier had collected thousands of Spirit Bead orbs. Li Ran shouted, “Let’s go higher to get some distance from them for now.” He led the two of them upward rapidly to break free from the encirclement.
There seemed to be some kind of restriction in this area—the Spirit Birds wouldn’t chase up; they would circle below a few times before diving back down, continuing to fly in the air as if never tiring.
Guo Shier asked, “Brother Li Ran, what’s wrong? Why not keep fighting?”
Li Ran stared at the below for a long time before saying, “Their level isn’t high, but there are so many of them. The strongest spirit beasts are all down there. Shier, stay behind me. I want to eliminate these Spirit Birds up there first—they’re too much of a hindrance.”
Guo Shier inwardly smiled bitterly. How could these be considered of low level? At least they were all spirit beasts above level ten, with level thirteen and fourteen being the most common. There were even some at level fifteen or sixteen—all excellent sacrifices. He said, “Okay, I’ll follow you.” He knew Li Ran needed to use Gu Xi Bi’s tentacles, as they were extremely fast at collecting spirits.
Li Ran said, “Zhen Wuji, you too, attack using your most powerful methods. Let’s strike together.”
Zhen Wuji nodded. “No problem.”
This time, they didn’t form a trio. It was then that Guo Shier truly saw Li Ran’s ferocity. He charged straight into the thickest cluster of spirit beasts, using a move called “Heavenly Burial,” which shook the entire space.
Guo Shier rushed in right after him. The sky was filled with clusters of spirits—now was the perfect time to collect them. Gu Xi Bi’s tentacles could reach over a thousand meters long. Guiding the altar, he swept through the area, with tens of thousands of tentacles flailing—even the old man was stunned. In just over ten seconds, he had collected more than a hundred thousand Spirit Bead orbs.
Zhen Wuji also kept attacking, collecting spirits as he fought, but his speed was much slower than that of Li Ran and Guo Shier together.

Li Ran said, “Go down! There’s no profit here!”
Guo Shier was a bit confused. Having gathered so many Soul Beads at once, he could hardly believe it. Hearing this, he immediately followed.