Chapter 1: Wood Evil (Part 1)

Guo Shier ordered Eagle Demon to gather as much useful material as possible, as there might not be another chance in the future. Once they left the ancient town’s territory, they would never return, so the idea was to collect whatever they could—anything collected was a profit, and if nothing was found, it was no loss.
Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan found this amusing, knowing Guo Shier was a collector obsessed with gathering everything. Having followed him for so long, they understood his intentions. Eagle Demon agreed and said, “No problem. They wouldn’t dare compete with us.”
Li Ran tore open a spatial rift and said, “Shier, hurry up!”
Guo Shier turned and dashed in. Even though Li Ran had created the rift, it couldn’t last long, and he knew this well, so he rushed in quickly. In the blink of an eye, the group arrived at the third continent.
The Third Continent.
Like ordinary continents, it had sunlight and rain, but no starlight. All continents here lacked starlight, which Guo Shier now somewhat understood. What he didn’t understand was the sunlight. From his past life’s knowledge, he knew the sun was a star, but there was no concept of stars here—so how could there be stars?
There was a vast primeval forest, stretching as far as the eye could see, filled with towering trees hundreds or even thousands of meters high. In the sky, there were flocks of mutated birds, and from time to time, the trees in the distance could be seen shaking violently, indicating that giant mutated beasts were active in the forest.
Zhen Wuji exclaimed, “It’s only the third layer, yet we can see so many mutated beasts, and they’re of high rank. This place is truly a treasure trove.”
Guo Shier stared into the distance. Li Ran followed his gaze and exclaimed in surprise, “Wow, that tree… how big is it!”
Even from such a distance, the enormous tree could be clearly seen—tens of thousands of meters tall, like a mountain. Everyone’s attention was drawn to it. The handsome old man emerged from the altar. After taking just one glance, he hurriedly said, “Go there! Quick!” His urgency was rare.
Guo Shier didn’t even have time to call out before disappearing from that spot. The others were slower to react and were momentarily stunned. Li Ran smiled and said, “Then let’s go take a look.” No one wanted to waste soul energy on teleportation, so they flew over quickly.

The diameter of this tree’s main trunk alone was nearly a kilometer, and its height reached almost 20,000 meters. Countless vines as thick as water jars hung down, creating a world of green. Guo Shieru emerged not far from the giant tree. Stunned by this unparalleled colossus, he said, “Elder Shuai, what the hell is this tree… how can it grow so big?”

Elder Shuai stared intently at the base of the tree, where layers of dark green mist were swirling. Excitedly, he said, “Mùshā! Damn it, there’s Mùshā here! Quick, release the Soul-Calming Cauldron, hurry up…” He pounded the top of the altar vigorously.

Without wasting time, Guo Shieru immediately unleashed the Soul-Calming Cauldron. This artifact was an top-tier tool for collecting things.

The Soul-Calming Cauldron flew out and rapidly expanded to 100 meters in height. Waves of colored light spiraled from its opening, and in an instant, countless streams of dark green mist flowed into it like water. Guo Shieru continuously cast spells to intensify the absorption.

Elder Shuai ordered, “Fly around the tree!”

After circling the tree once, Li Ran and the others arrived. At first glance, they saw Guo Shieru directing the Soul-Calming Cauldron to fly around the giant tree, with vast amounts of green mist being drawn into it.

These were all top-tier professionals, and with just one look, they understood what Guo Shieru was doing. Goha exclaimed in delight, “Mùshā!”

Li Ran and Qi Wuzhen didn’t move. If they started collecting, the others would have nothing left to do.

Zhen Wují quickly realized this wasn’t the time to be modest. He cast a virtual talisman, and a giant virtual palm descended, grabbing a handful of Mùshā from below, instantly forming a Mùshā bead.

Goha and Yao Zebusun also began collecting. Aside from Li Ran and Qi Wuzhen, everyone rushed to snatch Mùshā. But they found that their collection speed was vastly inferior to Guo Shieru’s. His Soul-Calming Cauldron was insanely efficient—waves of colored light spun as massive amounts of green mist poured into it like rivers flowing into the sea, a sight truly awe-inspiring.

Guo Shieru moved around while collecting Mùshā, not only fast but also heading to wherever there was more Mùshā.

Halechi gritted his teeth and said, “You freak… where does such an absurd sacrificial artifact come from?” His movements were the slowest. He was busy casting spells to draw Mùshā from the ground, but before he could collect much, the colored light swirled, reducing the amount of Mùshā significantly. After struggling for a while, he managed to gather only a few Mùshā beads, leaving him furious and howling in anger.

Everyone scrambled to collect it, putting in their utmost effort. Wood Evil was extremely rare; on other continents, it was difficult to accumulate such thick mist of Wood Evil, nor was there such pure Wood Evil. It was unknown how many years it had taken here to accumulate so much of this mist.

In fact, there was an abundance of Wood Evil here, enough for everyone to collect, but with Guo Shier’s insane Soul-Calming Cauldron around, everyone became frenzied. Watching Guo Shier’s pace—seemingly determined to sweep up all the Wood Evil—everyone thought to themselves, “Even if you’re eating meat, leave us some soup!”

Guo Shier had a large amount of Fire Evil and Metal Evil, a small amount of Earth Evil and Wood Evil, and the least was Water Evil—he had only collected about a dozen Water Evil beads, and those were obtained through extortion. How could he not go wild when encountering Wood Evil? This kind of opportunity came only once in a lifetime; who knew when he might encounter it again? So he certainly wouldn’t be modest. Professionals competed with their souls and their resources.

The handsome old man was also helping to collect it, directing Gu Xi Bi to use its tentacles to gather it. However, its efficiency was not as good as that of the Soul-Calming Cauldron, matching the speed of the others. But with one more person collecting, they still managed to gather quite a bit.

Yao Zebusong quickly collected Wood Evil while sighing. He said, “This guy is really lucky this time…” His tone wasn’t just a hint of envy but pure envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Goha was even more furious. He tried several times to grab Wood Evil, but the colorful light from the Soul-Calming Cauldron got there first. The light moved at an incredible speed, far faster than his virtual hand gestures. Often, by the time his virtual hand landed, the Wood Evil mist below had already been swept away, driving him mad. Yet, despite his anger, he didn’t dare attack Guo Shier. Whether he could defeat Guo Shier was another matter, but with Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen—two insane experts—standing by, provoking Guo Shier meant provoking them both. He wasn’t that stupid.

Guo Shier sneered inwardly. Aside from Goha, everyone else was collecting Wood Evil in the distance, with only Goha following closely behind him. Of course, he wouldn’t be polite. Want to steal Wood Evil? Dream on! At his current collection speed, he wouldn’t give the other guy any chance. With the Soul-Calming Cauldron, even if Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen joined in, he could still snatch a piece of the loot. Goha wasn’t even worth considering.

Fortunately, Goha wasn’t completely foolish. After several failed attempts, he realized he was acting stupid and immediately turned to fly away, searching for another place to collect Wood Evil.

The old man glared at Goha as he left and cursed, “Damn it, he’s doing this on purpose to annoy us!”
Guo Shier smiled and said, “Ignore him. Hehe, he won’t get any advantage.”
The old man grumbled angrily, “Hmph! I’ve always thought this old fellow is despicable. He came crawling over to us from the start. I’ll kill him!”
Guo Shier laughed heartily. In the distance, Goha gritted his teeth. He knew Guo Shier was mocking him and, in anger, swung a punch downward, sending splinters and leaves flying. In his fury, his punch didn’t catch any Wood Fiends and even destroyed several large trees.
In less than half a day, Guo Shier stopped. The green mist in the bushes had become very thin, and even with the Soul-Stabilizing Cauldron, the amount collected was minimal. The old man stared at the giant tree in silence. Guo Shier asked with a smile, “What are you looking at?”
The old man said, “Get closer to the tree.”
Guo Shier flashed over to the giant tree, while the old man emerged from the side of the altar and placed his hand on the trunk. After pondering for a moment, he said, “I wonder if there’s a Wood Heart.”
A Wood Heart referred to a natural rune in the form of the character for “wood.” Guo Shier was delighted—pure natural runes were extremely rare. He looked up; it was impossible to see the treetop from below due to its height. He whispered, “Could there really be a natural rune?”
The old man frowned and said, “I don’t know, but how can we find out without trying?”
The two discussed quietly for a while before Guo Shier and the old man chanted spells together. Virtual runes pierced into the trunk of the giant tree, and immediately, the entire tree emitted a faint green glow. Their actions immediately alerted everyone.
Halechi reacted slowly and asked, “What are you doing?”
Goha was stunned for a moment before realizing what was happening. He asked, “Does this tree have a Wood Heart?” He wanted to rush over right away, but Li Ran gave him a sharp look, scaring him to death. Interfering now would be deliberately causing harm.
Qi Wuzhen casually cast a few spells, and countless virtual runes flew from her fingertips and landed on the ground, sealing it off instantly. Li Ran smiled and said, “Good.” Everyone understood that once the ground was sealed, the Wood Heart couldn’t escape. In this regard, Guo Shier and the others lacked much experience.
The old man exclaimed in joy, “Damn, there’s a reaction! Haha!”
Guo Shier was greatly encouraged. Obtaining a Wood Heart meant obtaining vitality, which would greatly benefit the altar—making it stronger and more resilient. He said, “There really is one! Grab it!” Suddenly realizing something, he shouted, “Brother Li Ran, help me!”

Li Ran smiled and said, “Your real sister is already helping you…”
Guo Shierun unleashed the Soul-Stabilizing Cauldron, a powerful tool used for collecting things—truly capable of taking in anything. It was difficult to obtain the Wooden Heart, as once it formed, it acquired sentience. If not for Qi Wuzhen stepping in to assist, they probably wouldn’t have been able to detect it at all.