Chapter 7: Remains (Part 1)

In the distance, two skeletons could be faintly seen—similar to those at their feet, both enormous in size. The five of them exchanged glances, filled with excitement. Setting aside everything else, just these bones were of immense value. Guo Shier had been worried about finding high-quality materials to craft real talismans; if these remains were unclaimed, he could gather enough material.

Kumu narrowed his eyes and observed for a while before saying, “This place seems to be a secret battlefield. I don’t understand why it’s abandoned, and neither the mutated nor alien talisman beasts killed here have been collected.”

Guo Shier smiled and said, “Master, you’ve made a profit this time—no losses at all.”

Kumu nodded. “That’s right. If nothing goes wrong, this is indeed a profitable venture. I’ve never seen such a large number of remains in my life, all of them from high-level talisman beasts.”

Following the giant skeletons, Guo Shier flew downward and soon reached the ground. When he looked up at his master and the others, they were completely out of sight. On the ground, he found many scales—each as large as a washbasin and as thick as a finger. Deep brown, heart-shaped scales were scattered across the ground, forming a small hill.

Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan followed down, then Monier, with Kumu last.

Guo Shier held up a scale and said, “Master, these are scales from talisman beasts, completely petrified.”

Kumu picked up one, twisted his fingers, and a talisman flame appeared, immediately burning the scale. Guo Shier knew his master was testing the scale.

Eagle Demon also picked up a scale and flicked it with his finger. There was a crisp ringing sound, but the scale didn’t budge. Eagle Demon was surprised. “So hard?” He then produced his life talisman sword and slashed at it. With a loud clang, the scale rolled to the ground. Luo Zhan picked it up and examined it carefully before saying, “Impressive! Not a single scratch!”

Guo Shier said, “Something that even time can’t erode—your life talisman sword surely can’t shake it. These are still in their original form. Once refined, they’ll be even tougher.”

Kumu used purple talisman flame, the highest-grade flame, to refine the scale. In just a moment, the entire scale turned bright red. The purple flame, infused with countless intricate runes, had immense power. A wisp of smoke rose, and everyone detected a faint metallic smell.

Using Kuumu’s method, refining a scale was extremely fast. In about five minutes, the basin-sized scale shrank to the size of a palm, its color changing to a translucent vermilion, resembling colored glass—exquisitely delicate and beautiful. Kuumu played with it for a while before sighing, “A natural talisman foundation—one of the best materials for talismans.”

Monier said, “It’s so beautiful!”

Guo Shier also picked up a scale and tried to refine it using Kuumu’s method to create scale armor. His pace was slightly slower; it took him about ten minutes to complete the refinement of one scale. The color was a bit darker, and the transparency was slightly lower. He knew his abilities were not yet sufficient, but he was already quite satisfied with what he had achieved.

Kuumu said, “It seems we’ll have to stay here for a long time. These materials… require a lot of time to refine; otherwise, we can’t carry them. There are too many, and they take up too much space.”

Guo Shier looked up at the enormous bones, not knowing where to start refining them. A single rib was nearly a thousand meters long. He could only find relatively smaller bones, like a claw. Yet even a claw was dozens of meters long, leaving him shaking his head in frustration.

Eagle Demon laughed, “Shier, why are you sighing?”

Guo Shier said with a bitter smile, “If this thing were alive… who knows how powerful it would be. I really can’t imagine what kind of expert could kill it. I remember the Heavenly Snake Plague Turtle we encountered last time—we had no idea how to deal with it. That turtle was already extremely powerful even during its spawning period when it was weak. Compared to this giant in front of us, the Heavenly Snake Plague Turtle might not even count as anything.”

Monier asked, “By the way, what did you do with the four eggs of the Heavenly Snake Plague Turtle we got last time?”

Guo Shier replied, “I kept them in a Spirit Storage Talisman. I never thought of how to use them.” He originally wanted to hatch them himself and extract their essence to create new beast talismans, but it involved too many complexities. He wasn’t sure about the process and didn’t want to waste such precious turtle eggs, so he kept them in the Spirit Storage Talisman, planning to deal with them once his strength improved.

Kuumu asked, “What eggs?”

Guo Shier briefly recounted how he obtained the eggs of the Heavenly Snake Plague Turtle. Kuumu nodded and said, “These are valuable items. Let’s keep them for now. It would be a shame to use them now. Wait until you reach the rank of Advanced Great Sage Master before dealing with them. That will be the right time to utilize them.”

Monier agreed, “Yes, our strength as Sage Masters isn’t enough, not even as Junior Great Sage Masters.”

Guo Shier nodded and asked, “Master, what should we do with these bones?”

Withered Wood was also a bit troubled. These bones were simply too large and had largely turned to stone, making purification extremely difficult. Unlike scales, such enormous bones made purification a daunting task even with advanced talismanic fire. He said, “Take your time. We have plenty of time.”

Guo Shier said, “Uncle Eagle Demon, Uncle Luo, clear a space first so I can release the Talisman House.”

The two cleared an area about a kilometer away from the skeleton. Guo Shier released the Talisman House and said, “Uncle Eagle Demon, Uncle Luo, help me get the scale plates. I’ll purify them here.”

Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan went to collect the scale plates. They couldn’t purify them on their own, nor could they utilize all the high-quality materials scattered around. Only those in the rank of Great Sage could make some use of these materials, and only after having their own soul altar could they truly utilize them—by then, they would be on par with those in the talisman profession.

Guo Shier also had purple talismanic fire. After long-term cultivation and enhanced by virtual talismans, his purple fire was quite strong. Everyone began working separately on purification and basic processing.

Half a month later, most of the scale plates on the ground had been cleared. They only kept the intact ones; any slightly damaged or lower-quality ones were discarded as there wasn’t enough energy or time to deal with them. They felt helpless when there were so many high-quality materials but couldn’t collect them all.

Some special scale plates were selected, including large ones. To free up space in his spirit storage talismans and bags, Guo Shier threw away some lower-quality materials. It was an unavoidable choice.

After resting for a day, everyone started working on the skeleton again.

Guo Shier was interested in a row of spikes on the head. There were nine spikes in total—the longest being about seventeen meters and the shortest about nine meters. They were snow-white and as smooth as jade, with faint silver runes on them. With a diameter of five meters, they were embedded at the front of the skull. He planned to refine these nine spikes into his own life talisman sword.

Withered Wood was interested in the dense rows of teeth inside the skull, and Monier was interested in them as well. As for the huge bones, none of them could think of a good way to collect them. Neither knives nor axes could cut through those hard bones.

But everyone wasn’t in a hurry. As long as the coordinates of this secret realm remained hidden, it would remain a secluded place, and no one would come to claim these precious materials.

Guo Shier sat cross-legged beside a sharp thorn, opened his mouth, and spat out a purple talisman fire. Inside this fire, numerous virtual talismans were floating, though far fewer than those in withered wood’s fire. After casting a few spells, the talisman fire immediately descended to the base of the thorn and, driven by the spells, ignited with a loud boom. In an instant, the entire thorn turned into a giant torch. With a hissing sound, streams of green smoke rose. The purple talisman fire was extremely hot; despite being petrified, the thorn could not withstand such high temperatures. Countless cracks appeared, accompanied by continuous crackling sounds, and countless fragments floated up with the flames. It was only thanks to the support of the virtual talismans that the thorn did not collapse. As the giant thorn gradually shrank, Guo Shier shouted, “Rise!” A series of virtual talismans landed on the thorn, stabilizing it after it had shrunk by one circle. Inside the skull, Ku Mu and Monier were purifying teeth, causing dust to fill the air. Fortunately, it was on the skull, with no flammable materials, otherwise, a huge fire would have broken out. Guo Shier focused intently on the thorn. As more virtual talismans were infused into the talisman fire, its intensity grew even greater. The fire roared loudly, emitting intense heat waves that forced Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan to step back. Eagle Demon sighed, “This fire… with the enhancement of virtual talismans, its temperature has doubled at least. It’s terrifying.” Luo Zhan said, “What’s even more terrifying is this thorn. So far, it hasn’t changed much—only shrunk by two circles. I really don’t know how hard it is!” Guo Shier was also experimenting, trying to integrate the thorn into his own life talisman sword to improve its quality. After several battles, he had realized that the power of his life talisman sword was far from sufficient; it couldn’t even break through the defenses of powerful talisman beasts, which annoyed him greatly. As the purple talisman fire refined the thorn, it began to soften. Guo Shier continuously cast virtual talismans, integrating them into the thorn. He also added some other materials to the fire. Eagle Demon had inherited knowledge; although he couldn’t refine things himself, he could understand them. Luo Zhan, however, was confused. He whispered, “Eagle, I’ll go down and look around… Maybe I can find something special. You stay with Shier.” Eagle Demon nodded. “Okay. I suggest you check the middle of the skull to see what’s inside.” Luo Zhan agreed and flew down from the skull, entering through a bone hole on the side.

Guo Shier knew that Luo Zhan had left, but he paid no attention. His entire focus was on the sharp spike in front of him. Gradually, with the help of other materials, the spike began to melt away, with countless runes flashing. He waited patiently, occasionally casting spells to insert virtual runes into it. The process was extremely tedious, but the thought of enhancing the power of his life-bound rune sword kept him excited.