Chapter 1: The Thousand Fluff Demon Eater (Part 1)

Eagle Demon couldn’t help but advise, “Guo Shier, there’s no need for us to take risks!” He didn’t want Guo Shier to endanger himself—Haimen had nothing to do with them, so there was no reason to risk their lives to rescue their disciples.
But Guo Shier had different thoughts. First, Xuan Ai was a friend who had once helped him; he couldn’t bear to see his friend die. Second, he was curious about what had happened to cause so many distress signals from Haimen’s inner disciples—had they encountered some mutated talisman beasts? That didn’t seem likely either; if they really had faced high-level mutated talisman beasts, they probably wouldn’t have had time to send so many signals.
Xuan Ai thanked them repeatedly. With Guo Shier and Eagle Demon by his side, his chances of survival increased. He didn’t want to die, but he still had to go rescue them. Even if he wasn’t strong enough, he had to go—his identity token had already pulsed several times, marking his location, leaving no chance of escape. If he refused to rescue them, he would be held accountable later, even as an inner disciple.
Guo Shier cast a spell, quickly shrinking the Giant Perch Dragon, then retracted the Dark Wing Scorpion and Blade Shadow Mantis, leaving only the Ancient Flame Sparrow on his shoulder. At this point, they needed to keep their target as small as possible and their movements as hidden as possible. He kept the Giant Perch Dragon outside so he could fight at any moment. If they waited until they noticed something before releasing the dragon, it would be too late. Having the dragon outside also served as a good shield.
Eagle Demon smiled bitterly. He knew Guo Shier was determined, so he could only say, “Then be careful.”
Guo Shier smiled slightly and said, “Let’s enter through this path and fly straight to that mountain peak. From there, we should be able to see where the rescue is taking place.”
Eagle Demon replied, “I’ll lead the way. Follow me!”
The three flew low over the ground. It was the only option—after all, flying fast was necessary. Flying in the secret realm was dangerous, and they couldn’t fly high because of the mutated birds in the air and the fierce mutated talisman beasts on the ground, which would attack anything that flew over their territory. Only those with great confidence and strength would dare to fly high openly in the secret realm.
After a while, the three arrived at the mountain peak. Guo Shier stood beside a huge rock. Xuan Ai asked, “Can we see it?” Before he finished speaking, another signal appeared.
Guo Shier squinted but still couldn’t see clearly. He casually cast a spell and gently touched his eyes. Immediately, he exclaimed in surprise, “Wow… What kind of mutated talisman beast is that?”

There were many flight paths in the sky, with at least a hundred Hai Men disciples rushing over. Xuan Ai said anxiously, “I… I must get there quickly!”
Guo Shier said, “Wait… that mutated talisman beast is very strange!”
Xuan Ai paced back and forth in frustration. Guo Shier knew Hai Men had various rules regarding rescues, so Xuan Ai didn’t dare delay. He sighed and said, “Alright, let’s go!”
Plumes of dust rose into the air as Hai Men disciples screamed in alarm, with various talismanic lights flashing continuously. Someone shouted, “Attack this side… You guys go there… Hurry! Save them!”
More and more Hai Men disciples arrived; Guo Shier estimated there were at least three hundred professionals. There were already a hundred or so people on the ground, bringing the total to about five hundred professionals, including many experts at the Great Sage level.
The mutated talisman beast they faced—perhaps not even worthy of that name—resembled a membrane lying on the ground, with countless tentacles as thick as arms extending from it. From the mountain peak, Guo Shier found it extremely strange, somewhat similar to the sea anemones he had seen in his past life, but infinitely larger, with extremely dense tentacles that gave people chills.
Guo Shier and Eagle Demon neither intervened nor moved, staying outside the battlefield. Xuan Ai rushed straight in and launched an attack. Eagle Demon shook his head and said, “He’s too hasty… He doesn’t know what terrifying rules their sect has, forcing people to charge forward recklessly.”
Xuan Ai attacked once before retreating immediately to Guo Shier’s side.
Eagle Demon asked in surprise, “What are you doing?”
Xuan Ai wiped his sweat and said, “As long as I attack, it means I’ve come to rescue them… Whether it succeeds or not doesn’t matter.”
Guo Shier suddenly understood. He smiled and said, “Coming or not is a matter of attitude; whether you can win or not is a matter of strength. Heh, I get it now. No wonder you were in such a hurry to come.”
Another signal was sent out, along with many flying talismans. Some professionals were already entangled by the tentacles and dragged into the membrane while screaming. After thinking for a moment, Guo Shier without hesitation retracted his Giant Nest Dragon—he didn’t want it to attack that strange creature.
Xuan Ai said with a bitter smile, “We can’t just stand here… It’s not good if they notice us.”
Guo Shier replied, “It’s fine. Let’s practice Taiping Quan!”
Xuan Ai asked in surprise, “What’s Taiping Quan?”
Guo Shier smiled and said, “It’s when a group is fighting and one person is being beaten up. Then someone quietly steps in, kicks a few times, and punches a few times—that person is practicing Taiping Quan!”

Eagle Demon couldn’t help but laugh, “This is too cruel!”
Xuan Ai was quite pleased. He said, “Good, this is a great idea! Let’s practice Tai Ping Quan!”
The three of them mixed into the chaotic crowd, seizing opportunities to strike a few times before retreating, then striking again and retreating once more. Since both of them were spellcasters, they didn’t need to charge into battle head-on. Eagle Demon simply protected the two of them, refusing to engage in combat himself, believing it was more important to protect Guo Shier.
Guo Shier also didn’t use his signature sword spell but instead relied on illusion spells for attacks. As he usually preferred to use beast and insect spells as well as his signature sword spell, he rarely used illusion spells, but they were suitable for practice at this time.
Xuan Ai used real spells, though they were quite ordinary—capable of creating illusions of blades, swords, flames, ice spikes, etc. Their power wasn’t very great, but they were enough to force the tentacles to keep retreating.
Guo Shier’s illusion spells were more interesting. He used cutting techniques, using illusion spells to sever tentacles from time to time, and occasionally even managing to rescue Sea Gate disciples trapped by them.
More and more professionals arrived, nearly a hundred in total, but there were too few skilled commanders to coordinate them, so most fought on their own, leading to chaos. Fortunately, that membrane wasn’t very powerful; it was just strange, with no other tactics besides entangling people with its tentacles. Guo Shier observed coldly—so far, not many professionals had been killed or injured.
Whenever a professional got trapped, others would immediately step in to rescue them by cutting the tentacles and freeing them. Gradually, the crowd began to relax a bit.
But Guo Shier felt something was wrong. His soul was unique, giving him an extremely keen sense of danger. He whispered, “Let’s retreat a bit. I have a bad feeling about this.”
Xuan Ai trusted Guo Shier deeply. Hearing this, he immediately said, “Okay, let’s back off!”
The three of them slowly retreated, moving toward the periphery of the crowd. Guo Shier whispered, “Let’s go help the wounded.” There were mostly injured people in the periphery. Guo Shier stepped forward and dragged some severely injured people away. Xuan Ai was pleased inwardly—this was a good idea. He too dragged an injured person away from the battlefield.
Many professionals flew into the air, relying on their numbers to ignore the mutated birds in the sky and continuously attacking below. Guo Shier, Xuan Ai, and Eagle Demon also flew up, but they stayed low and far from the battle zone, occasionally launching one or two attacks in a typical Tai Ping Quan style.
At that moment, the giant membrane lying on the ground began to change. Xuan Ai exclaimed in surprise, “This… this looks like a flower!”

Guo Shier saw the center of the membrane quickly sink, with more than a dozen thick tentacles extending from inside. Realizing something was wrong, he shouted softly, “Retreat!” He grabbed Xuan Ai and rushed backward together with the Eagle Demon.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A harsh sound of something cutting through the air filled the air. Those tentacles swung down like giant whips, causing loud thuds as dozens of people were hit. Their power was astonishing—seven or eight of them began spraying blood violently. Someone screamed, “Retreat quickly!”

“Concentrate the attack! Ignore those smaller tentacles!”

“Damn it… Why isn’t the Inner Sect sending reinforcements yet?”

“Help!”

Many of those hit fell directly into the tentacle zone, where countless tentacles wrapped around them. They only cried out a few times before falling silent, clearly doomed.

Guo Shier said with a bitter smile, “What the hell is this thing?”

Xuan Ai replied, “I don’t know either. I’ve never seen or heard of it before… It’s not like a plant, nor like a talisman beast… It’s truly strange.”

Guo Shier said, “Whatever it is, we have no chance of winning. Retreat…”

The professionals present fled outward, while more and more professionals from the Sea Sect arrived from outside. A flying vehicle streaked across the sky, heading straight here. Xuan Ai spotted it and said, “Okay, the elders from the Inner Sect have arrived!”

The flying vehicle stopped a kilometer away, and several figures flew out at incredible speed. One of them shouted, “All Sea Sect disciples, retreat!”

Hearing this voice, Xuan Ai showed surprise and said, “It’s the Grand Elder! Grand Elder Meng Da!”

Guo Shier immediately recognized that this person’s strength was on par with Zhu Jiamao, the enchanting beauty—a professional expert beyond the rank of Great Sage. The two Great Sages following him seemed to be high-level Great Sages, extremely powerful.

All the Sea Sect disciples fled desperately outward.

The three of them flew above the membrane. Meng Da ordered, “Save the people first! All disciples, back off! No more fighting!”

The two high-level Great Sages immediately started rescuing people, quickly saving a few still alive professionals, though they were barely conscious, with only a faint breath left. The other professionals who fell had already been turned into flesh paste and absorbed by the tentacles.

Meng Da’s face turned pale. He moved his hands rapidly, with countless virtual talismans swirling around his fingertips. Then he spat out a purple-black bead the size of an egg, which immediately merged with the talismans at his fingertips. The bead swelled up, with streaks of lightning appearing. He shouted, “All disciples, retreat a kilometer away!”

“Qianyu Thunderstorm!”

Xuan Ai said enviously, “Exclusive skill! That’s a unique, exclusive skill…”
Guo Shier asked, “What’s an exclusive skill? Are skills divided into exclusive and non-exclusive?”
Before Xuan Ai could answer, Meng Da’s Qianyu Storm Lightning was already unleashed. The air fluctuated violently, and an extremely fierce murderous aura spread out. The Eagle Demon said nothing, grabbing Guo Shier with his left hand and Xuan Ai with his right, then flying backward like a gust of wind.
Swish…
That purple-black bead had swollen to the size of a bucket, slowly falling downward. Meng Da cast countless hand spells again, instantly turning into numerous beads the size of eggs that spread out. At a glance, the air was filled with a layer of purple-black beads, each one flashing with lightning and emitting a series of swishing sounds.
“Boom!”
The purple-black beads in the air suddenly sank downward, as if an explosives depot had been ignited, exploding with a loud roar.
Boom! Boom! Boom…