Chapter 5: Edlu Castle (Part 1)

The eleven survivors showed extreme fear on their faces. Guo Shieru calmly extracted the necessary information from one of their souls. With his powerful soul, the other party had no chance to resist. After a moment, Guo Shieru asked, “Are you hunters from Edlu Castle?”
The old man was frustrated because he didn’t understand a single word Guo Shieru said.
The men stared at Guo Shieru in horror. They didn’t understand how he suddenly spoke their language. From the start, they had thought he was a foreigner from the forest, and they never spared foreigners—they always killed them.
No one replied; they all glared at Guo Shieru with hatred.
Guo Shieru reached out and grabbed the captives, bringing them close to him. The men were even more terrified. They had never seen such power, especially the countless runes flowing in his palm, which filled them with shock and fear. Their gazes at Guo Shieru were almost insane.
The old man said, “We are the invaders. Heh, it’s hard to communicate with them. Our power systems are different. I believe they’ve realized that too.”
Guo Shieru also felt troubled. He couldn’t just kill them all. After thinking for a while, he walked up to one of them and pressed his hand on the man’s head again. The man suddenly screamed, “Agaru… Yaka…” A dagger-like blade appeared in his hand, and he frantically stabbed at Guo Shieru’s abdomen.
Guo Shieru understood these words. In their language, they meant something like, “Demon, I’m going to kill you.” Guo Shieru tightened his grip, and his soul’s energy surged into the man’s soul. Instantly, the man’s limbs went weak, and his arms drooped limply. He let out a pitiful scream—the pain in his soul was a hundred times worse than nerve pain.
This time, Guo Shieru didn’t hold back and forcibly extracted the needed information. By the time he released him, the man had become an idiot, his soul completely chaotic.
The old man asked, “How?”
Guo Shieru transmitted part of the information to the old man and said, “They know very little. They’re just hunters from Edlu Castle. This is the Black Wind Forest, hundreds of miles away from Edlu Castle. That crystal… they call it Skaa. It’s a type of energy crystal. Let’s call it a Spirit Crystal for now. It’s one of the most precious things here.”
The old man said, “They’re coming…”

Guo Shier casually cast a virtual talisman, which exploded in the air, forming a red virtual flower, just like fireworks in his past life. Soon, Li Ran, Qi Wu Zhen, Ezekiel, Meili, Zhen Wu Ji, Goha, and Yao Zebusong descended from the sky. Guo Shier stepped forward and asked, “Huh, where’s Halechi?”
Li Ran smiled and said, “He’ll be here soon. He sent me a message talisman.”
Fear grew even more in those people’s eyes. They never expected to encounter such powerful enemies; they all descended from the sky. In their world, only a very small number of people could fly, and they were all top-tier experts. They had only heard of it before, having never seen it themselves.
Zhen Wu Ji glanced around and asked, “Are these all locals?”
Guo Shier nodded. “That’s right. They tried to kill me as soon as they saw me. Hehe, so… I left them behind.”
Zhen Wu Ji nodded, not finding it strange at all. He walked up to one of them, pressed his hand on the person’s head just like Guo Shier had, and the person screamed in fear before collapsing to the ground instantly. After a moment, Zhen Wu Ji said, “They’re completely different from us. Their combat skills… must be pretty good too.”
Then, Li Ran, Qi Wu Zhen, Goha, and Yao Zebusong stepped forward as well, each grabbing one person and instantly extracting the memories from their souls. This was the simplest and most effective method. However, it was difficult to do so on the Continent of Talismans, as people there cultivated their souls. Unless there was a huge disparity, few would risk extracting someone else’s soul memories, as it was extremely dangerous.
Ezekiel and Meili didn’t have such concepts. They wouldn’t extract others’ memories. According to their logic, if someone posed a threat to them, they would simply eat them.
It was then that Halechi descended from the sky. He said, “You’re all here… Hey, who are these people?” He walked over, pressed his hand on one person’s head, and soon smiled. “Finally, I know a little about this place. Damn, I’ve been running for so long without seeing a single soul.”
Li Ran said, “We’re going to Edlu Castle.”
Guo Shier said, “If we just go in like this, it’s almost certain to be another massacre.”
Qi Wu Zhen said nonchalantly, “Let them kill us then. Anyway, this world means nothing to us… To them, we’re invaders. Peaceful coexistence is impossible.”
Guo Shier sighed. “Yeah, it’s indeed hard to live in peace.” What had happened earlier showed that even ordinary hunters were unwilling to communicate with them, choosing to kill them as soon as they saw them.

Li Ran said, “As long as they don’t resist, we don’t need to kill them. Let’s wait and see their attitude before deciding.” All of them were peak-level professionals with extremely high combat strength, so they weren’t afraid of being killed by the opponents.
Halechi asked, “How many of these people are still alive? Should we kill them all?”
Guo Shier said, “Even if we don’t kill them, they’re doomed anyway. There are many wild beasts here. They’ll come quickly once they smell the blood. They can’t resist. Let’s leave.”
Without further hesitation, everyone took off into the air and vanished instantly.
…
Aidulu Fort was located on the edge of the Black Wind Forest. A mountain range separated the edge of the Black Wind Forest, and Aidulu Fort stood at a strategic pass, serving as a forward fortress guarding the forest. The Black Wind Forest was a popular hunting ground during spring, summer, and autumn, but winter was different. Throughout the winter, Aidulu Fort remained closed because numerous wild beasts attacked the castle, claiming many hunters’ lives each year.
Most of the hunters at Aidulu Fort operated near the edge of the forest, as few dared to venture deep into it. Everyone knew that those who went deep into the Black Wind Forest rarely returned alive—the mystical beasts there were beyond the power of ordinary hunters.
This period was the best hunting season for hunters, so countless hunters were active along the edge of the Black Wind Forest.
Aidulu Fort was controlled by the Aidulu family. The concept of a family here differed from that in the Spellcraft Continent, where families were like nations or alliances, enormous in scale. Here, a family was simply that—a small group that controlled a modest army, with most officers being family members.
The influence of the Aidulu family extended only within a few hundred miles around Aidulu Fort. The total population of the fort did not exceed 50,000, with the largest group being hunters—around 6,000. There were about 3,000 soldiers in the castle, and the rest were mostly merchants and family members of the castle’s fighters.
Along the mountain range separating the Black Wind Forest, there were hundreds of such forts, all of similar size. Unlike the Spellcraft Continent, where ancient families with hundreds of millions or even billions of members were common, the two were incomparable.

Guo Shier and the others quickly exchanged the information they had gathered along the way, and soon they understood some basic details. Li Ran passed on the local language system to Ezekiel and Meili. These two couldn’t extract soul memories, so they had to learn the language through inheritance; otherwise, they wouldn’t understand anything, which would be troublesome.

Goha said, “The people here… should be called Moss people. What a strange race; we’ve never seen them in our area.”

Guo Shier replied, “It’s completely different worlds—quite normal. Hehe, they also have a professional rank system… Have you noticed that?”

Li Ran said, “Mm, I’ve noticed it for a while. It’s completely different from our professional system. But it doesn’t matter. Without fighting them, we can’t compare.”

From their memories, the professional rank system here was translated as “Barbaric Spiritual Power.” Of course, this was just a translated term. Whether it was accurate or not, Guo Shier and the others didn’t delve into it—having just a name was enough.

Barbaric Spiritual Power was divided into nine levels. Reaching the ninth level meant reaching the highest level in this world, known as Haska. Guo Shier simply translated it as “king-level expert.” He didn’t bother translating the lower levels—eighth-level Barbaric Spiritual Expert, seventh-level Barbaric Spiritual Expert, and so on, with the lowest being first-level Barbaric Spiritual Expert.

The group that Guo Shier defeated were probably only second-level Barbaric Spiritual Experts, a very low rank. But this was just an estimate. Without comparison, they couldn’t determine the true strength of the local combatants.

Li Ran said, “Maybe we can learn something. Hehe, you know… we’re experts in soul magic. We can directly obtain memories from others’ minds. And what do memories represent? That’s inheritance. I won’t reject this world’s combat system. If we can learn from it… we’ll gain another ability!”

These words immediately excited everyone. Guo Shier said, “We can act separately, learn on our own, and then share what we’ve learned when we gather again… Haha, inheritance is where the true power of souls lies!”

Qi Wu Zhen nodded and said, “Good idea. Then let’s enter Edlu Castle first, and then decide where to go.”

Ezekiel and Meili were frustrated. Neither of them had such skills, and they had no interest in this world’s combat system. Their progression methods were different from everyone else’s, as they were humanoid aberrant spirit beasts. Ezekiel asked, “Hey, what should we do then?”

Meili replied without hesitation, “I’ll go with Xiao Ha!”

Ezek cursed angrily, “Come with me! You stupid woman!”
Halechi trembled in fear and said, “I’ll go by myself! No one needs to follow.”
Meili said, “Ezek, you follow someone else… follow Guo Shier! I’ll follow Halechi. We simply can’t go together!” She made a valid point—given their appearances, they would cause trouble wherever they went. Although they weren’t afraid of fighting, fighting constantly wasn’t a solution either.
Halechi’s face seemed to drip with bitterness as he tried hard to refuse, “I prefer to act alone!” He cursed inwardly nonstop, but he couldn’t defeat Meili. This blatant pursuit frustrated him greatly. He was almost driven mad—he had never seen such an unyielding woman, no, such an unyielding humanoid aberration beast. Damn it.
Ezek grunted, “No, I’m coming too! I’ll follow Halechi too!” He simply couldn’t be at ease—his wife having her eye on someone else, how could he stay calm?