Chapter 4: The Soul Calming Cauldron (Part 2)

Guo Shieru charged forward, using colorful light to sweep up the spirit birds and trap them inside the Soul Calming Cauldron. This time, the collection was carried out from all directions at even faster speed. The handsome old man was amazed and said, “You’ll never lack sacrifices again. At this rate, you’ll become extremely wealthy.”
Guo Shieru replied, “It’s impossible to collect them all—there are too many. I’ll try to gather as many as possible. In a moment, control the talisman array in the Soul Calming Cauldron and let them fight among themselves inside, reducing their numbers and improving the quality of the spirit beasts. That way, I can collect more.” He knew that given the Cauldron’s capacity, it could hold at most a million spirit beasts; any more might cause it to collapse.
The handsome old man said, “Hmm, no problem. Let’s keep it at five hundred thousand spirit beasts. Too many won’t make much difference.”
Guo Shieru nodded. “Yeah, five hundred thousand is about right. Try to raise their levels as much as possible. Hehe, I’m looking forward to encountering truly powerful spirit beasts.”
The handsome old man said, “They can’t be upgraded indefinitely. Once they reach a certain level, their grades will be restricted.”
Li Ran looked up and saw the sky filled with colorful light. He laughed and said, “Hehe, this time Shieru has really struck gold. Even I can’t compare.”
Zhen Wuji said, “You can also refine a similar sacrificial treasure.”
Li Ran had his own pride. He smiled and said, “I don’t need it.” At his level, he relied more on his own strength rather than the power of sacrificial treasures—two completely different concepts.
Zhen Wuji still didn’t have such awareness and was considering whether he should refine one too.
Li Ran said calmly, “With your strength, if you keep relying on the power of sacrificial treasures, it will be hard for you to advance beyond the ninth-tier altar.”
Zhen Wuji was shocked. He pondered, “Hmm, it’s related to advancement…” He could ignore other things, but since it involved advancing beyond the ninth-tier altar, he had to think carefully. Soon, he decided not to consider refining such a sacrificial treasure.
Guo Shieru had already plunged into the swarm of spirit birds and began collecting them in large numbers, while the handsome old man controlled the talisman array in the Soul Calming Cauldron, lifting the restrictions on fighting and allowing the spirit beasts to battle each other.
The Soul Calming Cauldron trembled violently once again, but Guo Shieru wasn’t concerned. He knew that chaos reigned inside—the vast number of spirit beasts were scattered and then devoured by others. Some advanced spirit beasts advanced in level, their strength soaring rapidly. For them, the Soul Calming Cauldron was also a treasure trove, even better than the mountainside.

Guo Shier was overjoyed; he had never been this happy before, nor had he ever collected so many Soul Beasts so easily. Whenever the colored light swept through, hundreds upon hundreds of Soul Birds would enter the Soul Calming Cauldron—such efficiency was incredible. The Soul Birds couldn’t pose a threat to him either; they were enveloped by the colored light from thousands of meters away and couldn’t get close at all.

A large group of mutated Thunder Eagles, all Soul Birds, shot out lightning as they tried to approach Guo Shier, but once caught in the colored light, their bodies shrank rapidly before they quickly entered the Soul Calming Cauldron to join the battle among the Soul Beasts.

The number of Soul Beasts in the Cauldron had already exceeded one million. With the ongoing battles inside, nearly half of them were consumed, keeping the count at around six to seven million. If it weren’t for Guo Shier continuing to collect more, the number would have dropped even faster.

Gradually, the Soul Birds in the sky became sparser. Li Ran and Zhen Wuji had gathered enough sacrifices and no longer felt the need to hunt further. But Guo Shier was different; he habitually liked to collect more. Ever since childhood, when he loved collecting food, it was clear he had a serious collecting obsession. Since this opportunity was so rare, he continued to scour the area tirelessly.

Li Ran wondered, “What’s Shier doing? He should stop by now. He’s already collected so many Soul Beasts. Does he want to wipe them all out here?”

Zhen Wuji smiled and said, “I have that feeling. He really does want to wipe them all out.”

Li Ran said, “We should leave soon too. There might already be many professionals outside. I wonder if any from the Gu Miluo family have arrived.”

Zhen Wuji replied, “I don’t think many professionals can reach here. The number of escaped mutated and aberrant Symbol Beasts is enough to attract most of them.”

Guo Shier soon gave up the idea of collecting all the Soul Beasts. Only now did he realize he had miscalculated from the start—the number of Soul Beasts here was far more than one million, far beyond what his Soul Calming Cauldron could hold.

The handsome old man kept encouraging Guo Shier, as he understood the situation better than him. Back when he was still alive, finding a good sacrifice was extremely difficult. Seeing so many Soul Beasts, his eyes gleamed with greed as he urged Guo Shier to keep going.

Guo Shier himself didn’t really want to stop either. He said, “Stop controlling the array completely and let the Soul Beasts fight faster to free up space.”

The handsome old man said happily, “Good! I’ll keep the Spirit Beasts under five hundred thousand—that’s just the right number.”
Guo Shier knew that in the battles among Spirit Beasts, only the higher-tier ones would remain; those weaker would be eliminated and devoured. These high-tier Spirit Beasts served not only as the attack weapons for the Soul Calming Cauldron but also as the best source of sacrifices for the altar.
It took seven days in total. Guo Shier expended a great deal of spiritual energy to gather countless Spirit Beasts. Eventually, he could go no further. He found an open area, began devouring large numbers of Soul Beads, and recited spiritual scriptures silently.
There were no more Spirit Beasts in the vicinity. Li Ran and Zhen Wuji had left the mountain valley three days earlier and returned to the mountain peak, so no one disturbed Guo Shier. The handsome old man commanded the Soul Calming Cauldron to protect him, ensuring that any Spirit Beast that dared approach would immediately be drawn into it.
Guo Shier continued to recite the scriptures over and over. Having absorbed too many Soul Beads, his soul became somewhat restless. However, as he recited longer, his soul gradually calmed down and even grew stronger.
A few hours later, Guo Shier switched to another spiritual scripture—one he had obtained from Li Ran. Instantly, the altar trembled. The handsome old man wondered, “What’s going on?” He immediately entered the altar to investigate.
Inside the Ancient Ink Lotus, the sealed black object was pulsating violently. Frightened, the handsome old man frantically cast sealing runes to strengthen the seal. But as Guo Shier continued to recite, the object also fluctuated, making it difficult to suppress. With no other choice, the handsome old man used spiritual vibrations to inform Guo Shier, “Stop creating those fluctuations! That thing is becoming restless!”
Guo Shier was shocked and quickly stopped reciting. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
Fortunately, the handsome old man was a spiritual being; otherwise, he would have been sweating profusely. He was on the verge of losing control of the black object and had cast thousands of virtual runes in a row, sensing extreme danger. It was also fortunate that Guo Shier stopped reciting, otherwise, he truly would have lost control. Once the spiritual fluctuations caused by his recitation subsided, the black object gradually calmed down as well.
Guo Shier was puzzled. “This… this thing is also affected?” He couldn’t understand at all. If the black object became so restless, how could he handle the other scripture besides his own? He felt a severe headache.
After a moment of silence, Guo Shier asked, “Handsome Old Man, do you have any solution?”
The handsome old man replied straightforwardly, “The only solution… is for your soul not to fluctuate. There’s nothing else.”

Guo Shier smiled bitterly and said, “That won’t work. If I want to advance quickly, it all depends on this.” To advance fast, he relied on two trump cards: one was the Soul Scripture he brought from his past life, which was his foundation; the other was the Scripture he exchanged from Li Ran. It was this very Scripture that allowed Li Ran to advance beyond the ninth-tier altar—how could he give it up?

Elder Shuai said, “If you keep causing those strange fluctuations, I won’t be able to suppress them either. What will you do then?”

Guo Shier replied, “Suppression alone isn’t enough. We need to find the cause and come up with a solution.”

Elder Shuai said, “I know, I know… But what plan do you have? This thing wasn’t something we deliberately acquired… It rushed into your altar on its own. How can you get rid of it?”

Guo Shier was stunned. He indeed wanted to get rid of this strange thing. After thinking further, he sighed in frustration and said, “Damn it, how could I forget… Um, Elder Shuai, is it possible to move this thing to another place… Hmm, inside a sacrificial treasure? I’m not sure if it will work.”

Elder Shuai cursed, “Are you crazy? To forge another sacrificial treasure just for this thing?”

Guo Shier said, “That’s not what I mean. I can’t handle forging another one either. I was thinking… could we put this thing in the Soul-Stabilizing Cauldron?”

Elder Shuai was taken aback. He slapped his thigh suddenly and said, “Ah, that’s worth trying!”