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

As they descended further, more and more Spirit Birds gathered around them. Li Ran attacked frantically, while Guo Shier followed closely behind, collecting them. Their seamless coordination allowed them to reach the ground quickly.
Below was a vast expanse covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. It was unclear how it had formed, but it was packed tightly with Spirit Beasts. Even Li Ran grew nervous. He said, “Damn it, there are too many… It’s impossible to fight!”
Guo Shier took one look and couldn’t help but shudder. He said, “There are at least millions… Millions of Spirit Beasts. We should leave!”
Zhen Wuji rushed to their side. At a glance, he exclaimed in horror, “We can’t land… There are too many! It’s terrifying!”
Li Ran frowned, displeased at the prospect of being unable to catch any. At a glance, he spotted dozens of high-level Spirit Beasts—precisely the sacrifices he needed.
Guo Shier said, “As long as the Spirit Beasts can’t fly, we can selectively collect them, provided… we can destroy them.”
Zhen Wuji said, “The Spirit Birds above are coming down!”
A swarm of Spirit Birds descended from above. Li Ran’s expression changed slightly. He said, “All to my altar!” Guo Shier immediately placed the altar on his head and flew onto Li Ran’s altar. Zhen Wuji also hesitated for no moment and flew up as well.
Li Ran said, “First, eliminate the Spirit Birds above!”
There was still room to move in the sky, but the ground was completely packed with Spirit Beasts, all lying still on the ground. Yet Guo Shier knew that if one Spirit Beast was disturbed, all of them would become aggressive.
Li Ran headed straight for the Spirit Birds. Guo Shier glanced back accidentally and saw a huge protrusion on the ground. He couldn’t help but ask, “What’s that thing?”
Zhen Wuji asked, “What?”
Guo Shier said, “What kind of rock is that? Why is it green…” Under the light of Li Ran’s altar talisman, the huge rock emitted a seductive green glow.
Li Ran glanced down in his busy state and exclaimed, “Hey, a Soul Nurturing Stone? It’s actually a Soul Nurturing Stone!”
Guo Shier asked, “What’s its relation to the Soul Nurturing Wood?”
Zhen Wuji also realized this and exclaimed in surprise, “The Soul Nurturing Wood is beneficial for professionals, while the Soul Nurturing Stone is beneficial for sacrifices. This thing is extremely rare…” Before he could finish speaking, Li Ran had already collided with the Spirit Birds.

A long howl. It was Guo Shier who let out that roar, instantly causing the entire flock of Spirit Birds to slow down. Li Ran seized the opportunity to attack: “Sky Burial!”
Countless Spirit Birds turned into clusters of spirit energy under this move; those nearby vanished completely, losing even their spirit essence and becoming nothing at all. Guo Shier lamented, “What a pity…” He immediately flew away from Li Ran’s altar, unleashing the tentacles of the Ancient Xi Bi to start another round of plundering.
After several consecutive attacks using Sky Burial, Guo Shier and Li Ran worked together to collect hundreds of thousands of Spirit Pearl beads. The entire flock of Spirit Birds became sparse; those nearby had all been cleared away, while those farther away were not worth the trouble for either Li Ran or Guo Shier.
There were far more than a million spirits in the sky, and it was absolutely impossible for Li Ran and his two companions to eliminate them all. After several rounds of Sky Burial, Li Ran also felt exhausted. He swallowed a large number of Spirit Pearl beads to restore his spiritual strength.
Zhen Wuji circled around Li Ran, guarding him. By now, the Spirit Birds were too scared of Li Ran to dare attack again.
The sky settled into temporary silence. Guo Shier went to Li Ran’s altar and began counting the loot.
In such a short time, Guo Shier had gathered hundreds of thousands more Spirit Pearl beads. The sheer quantity had made him somewhat numb. He took out large storage bags and handed one to Li Ran and one to Zhen Wuji, saying with a smile, “Time to split the profits…”
Li Ran knew well that Guo Shier had reaped a huge harvest this time. Zhen Wuji glanced at the storage bags and was stunned. He had seen Spirit Pearl beads before, but never such a large quantity. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Amazing!” He immediately took out thousands of Spirit Pearl beads, which turned into sacrificial spirit beasts. In an instant, hundreds of them were used to repair the altar and the sacred treasures.
Guo Shier said, “The spirit beasts on the ground are the real treasures. I saw the spirits of countless high-level Abnormal Talisman Beasts—those are extremely rare.”
Li Ran replied, “The Soul Nourishing Stones we saw earlier seemed quite large. I wonder how many there are. Hehe, this trip has been really fruitful. Not only did we find Soul Nourishing Wood, but we also found Soul Nourishing Stones… We’ll go collect them in a while, hoping to get more.”
Guo Shier silently searched through the ancestral memories and quickly found records related to Soul Nourishing Stones.

Soul-nourishing stones are less helpful to professionals than soul-nourishing wood, but they are extremely useful for spirit beasts, as they can refine spirits and facilitate their transformation into tangible forms. If collected by professionals, they can be crafted into soul-nourishing tablets to store spirits within, making them extremely rare gemstones and top-tier spirit beast talismans.

Guo Shier thought for a while before quietly discussing it with the old man Shuai: “If we can gather enough soul-nourishing stones and combine them with soul-nourishing wood, we should be able to forge a cauldron.”

The old man Shuai asked in surprise, “A cauldron? What is that?” Although this world shared some similarities with his past life, even in language and writing, it lacked the concept of a cauldron.

Guo Shier explained in detail, and the old man Shuai immediately understood. He said, “I see. It’s similar to the ancient Ink Lotus, right? Hmm, this shape… is quite unique. Let me think about how to proceed with the ritual.”

Li Ran had already recovered. He said, “Good. Let’s go down again and first clear out the spirit beasts around the soul-nourishing stones.”

Guo Shier gradually understood why Li Ran’s strength seemed so formidable here. It was because the spirit beasts here were different from the mutated talisman beasts with physical forms. With Li Ran’s strength beyond the ninth-tier altar, his spiritual power was boundless. Even with many spirit beasts, they couldn’t pose a real threat to him. No wonder he had hesitated at first from the outside; once the killing began, he quickly became confident.

Li Ran cleared out the spirit beasts around the soul-nourishing stones in no time. This was thanks to Guxi Bi’s insane speed at collecting them; otherwise, even if the spirit beasts were destroyed, they would quickly reassemble.

Collecting soul-nourishing stones was also Guo Shier’s task. His strength was the weakest, and he wasn’t good at killing spirit beasts, but he was an expert at both capturing spirits and digging up soul-nourishing stones. Li Ran praised him highly—having Guo Shier with them wasn’t a burden at all; his help was invaluable.

Soon, Guo Shier discovered a secret. He exclaimed in delight, “This is a vein of soul-nourishing stones! There are more below!”

Seeing the spirit beasts approaching, Li Ran said with a smile, “Dig down!”

Guo Shier said, “Old man Shuai, it’s your turn!”

The old man Shuai didn’t hesitate and immediately ordered Guxi Bi to dig underground. Guxi Bi’s tentacles could be soft or hard; at this moment, they acted like countless drilling bits, frantically digging downward and quickly creating a large hole. Guo Shier said, “Brother Li Ran, you guys guard the hole while I go down to collect the soul-nourishing stones.”

The ore vein was enormous. Soon, the handsome old man said, “The storage space for talismans isn’t enough. Kid, I’m using large talisman bags to store the Soul-Nourishing Stones…” Fortunately, Guo Shier had previously raided many ancient clans, stealing a vast amount of materials and supplies, including countless talisman bags.

Guo Shier said, “Let’s collect the ore first and refine it later. I want to craft a sacrificial treasure, and it requires a large number of Soul-Nourishing Stones. Hehe, this sacrificial treasure… should be extremely powerful.”

The handsome old man asked, “What kind of sacrificial treasure?”

Guo Shier replied, “It’s the cauldron I mentioned—something that can hold many Spirit Beasts. Hehe, once a battle starts, I’ll just release those Spirit Beasts. One or two might not scare the opponent, but releasing hundreds or thousands at once will surely give any expert a headache.”

The handsome old man agreed, “Not bad, not bad. That’s a good idea. Once you advance this time, we’ll start working on crafting that cauldron of yours.” Although he had some idea in mind, he didn’t know how to proceed. Presumably, Guo Shier already had a solid plan, so he didn’t ask further.

He directed Gu Xi Bi to keep digging, filling the altar with tons of ore. The handsome old man was extremely busy, filling one talisman bag after another. Thankfully, there were plenty of talisman bags to spare.

Li Ran and Zhen Wuji also entered the mine cave, staying at the bottom of the passage, killing any Spirit Beast that came their way. The outer part of the mine cave was gradually expanded by the Spirit Beasts, forcing the two to retreat slowly. At this point, they didn’t need to fight desperately—just protect the cave from collapsing. They chatted casually while occasionally killing a Spirit Beast that squeezed into the cave.

Li Ran laughed and asked, “Zhen Wuji, have you gathered enough sacrifices?”

Zhen Wuji sighed, “Enough to advance beyond the ninth level. It’s a pity… I still can’t figure out how to do it. There’s no inheritance to guide me.” He really wanted Li Ran’s advice but understood that no one would be willing to share such valuable experience.

Li Ran seemed to see through his thoughts and said, “It’s not that I refuse to tell you how to advance. It’s that advancing from the ninth-level altar relies more on luck and opportunity—it can’t be forced.”

Zhen Wuji had already guessed that. He smiled bitterly and said, “This hurdle is very difficult to overcome. I spent decades wandering around without achieving anything. I’ll try again after this is over.” He seemed lacking confidence—this barrier couldn’t be overcome through inheritance or cultivation alone.

Li Ran said, “You’d better focus on the soul aspect… Whether it works or not depends on each person’s luck.”
Zhen Wuji shook his head. “It’s already extremely difficult for me to increase my soul power even by a little. Hehe, it’s too hard—completely unsolvable.”
Li Ran suddenly realized something, but he didn’t say much. He thought of those two soul scriptures; Zhen Wuji didn’t have such scriptures, so it was expected that his soul power wouldn’t grow. It would indeed be even harder for him to advance further.
As the two chatted casually while collecting some spirit beasts, Guo Shier discovered something remarkable—a huge soul-nurturing stone crystal that was ten meters wide and two meters high. Due to its extreme hardness, it only became visible after the ancient Xi Bi’s tentacles gathered all the surrounding ores. This delighted Guo Shier and the old man greatly.
The two stopped by the crystal. Guo Shier said, “This… this is definitely something amazing…”
The old man repeated, “Bring the altar a little closer so I can take a look!”
Guo Shier moved the altar closer to the crystal, and the old man peered at it carefully. After a while, he said, “If this is refined once more, it can be used right away. This is the best soul-nurturing stone crystal—perfect for using as the base material for refining the cauldron. Nothing better than this.”
Guo Shier replied, “But… there’s no more space in the talisman storage…”
The old man chuckled and said, “I have a good solution!”