Chapter 4: Running Around (Part 2)

Guo Shier still was organizing the Ancient Ink Lotus. Once the Life Talisman Ball merged with it, the Ancient Ink Lotus took over its function. The lotus was covered in numerous natural runes, their density far exceeding Guo Shier’s imagination. The Life Talisman Ball had around millions of runes, while the Ancient Ink Lotus contained at least hundreds of millions of natural runes, including many strange ancient runes that even Guo Shier himself could not identify.

After merging with the Life Talisman Ball, Guo Shier was able to fully control the Ancient Ink Lotus. His daily task was to become familiar with the runes within it, identify those specially formed ancient runes, and make minor adjustments. Once this task was completed, he could unlock the Gu Mi Luo family’s heritage—knowledge related to constructing a virtual altar. So far, he had not yet accessed this part of the heritage.

Over the course of a night, Guo Shier sorted through some of the ancient runes. He wasn’t in a hurry. To build an altar using the Ancient Ink Lotus, he needed to understand it completely. If he couldn’t even recognize its innate ancient runes, true control was out of the question. He patiently worked with the lotus methodically.

Guo Shier attached great importance to this step. Gaining the Ancient Ink Lotus by chance had greatly accelerated his cultivation progress, especially since he had advanced several levels in a row when he obtained it, weakening his spiritual foundation slightly. Fortunately, with the help of spiritual scriptures, he was confident he could overcome this deficiency given enough time. Thus, his current task wasn’t to construct a virtual altar but to lay a solid foundation, study the inherited knowledge, make all necessary preparations, and gather ample materials—these were the tasks he needed to complete now.

In the early morning, Guo Shier packed up the rune chamber and said, “Let’s continue flying forward.”

The four of them got up and took to the air.

No one expected that after staying in this secret realm for nearly thirty days without finding an exit, Guo Shier felt somewhat disheartened. During that time, they had slain two mutated rune beasts—one a level-seven mutated rune beast and the other an eight-level mutated bird.

Looking at the endless sea of trees, Guo Shier said with a wry smile, “We can’t find it… We’ve circled around several times yet still can’t locate the exit. Could this also be a closed secret realm?”

Zhou Xiaoling replied, “Shier, don’t worry. Let’s keep searching. Maybe we’ll find it soon.” She knew her words were somewhat ineffective. The entrance to a secret realm was always difficult to find—perhaps hidden in the forest or underwater. Flying around aimlessly like they were really struggling to locate the exit.

Eagle Demon said, “What if… we return to the territory of the ancient Miluo family and find another path from there?”
Guo Shier thought for a moment before asking, “Uncle Luo, Dingding, what do you think?” He was also losing confidence. They had been stuck here for too long—thirty days was enough time for them to travel far, yet they were still wandering in a secret realm.
Zhou Xiaoling said, “I’m in favor of going back.”
Luo Zhan nodded and said, “Rather than wandering around here, it’s better to go back and find another way out. Anyway, you have the Cross-Realm Talisman, so you’re not afraid of getting trapped on a continent or in a secret realm.”
That was the power of the Cross-Realm Talisman. Guo Shier remembered he still needed to meet Li Ran once more, but unfortunately, the coordinates given by Li Ran couldn’t be used yet—due to the excessive distance.
Guo Shier made up his mind and said, “Okay, let’s go back!”
After checking the Cross-Realm Talisman, Guo Shier entered a coordinate into it and quickly determined their location. He opened the talisman gate and said, “Let’s go!”
…
They crossed one continent after another and passed through numerous secret realms. During this time, since Guo Shier kept providing the soul beads of the mutated beings for everyone to consume and using soul vibrations to refine their souls, Eagle Demon successfully advanced to a Junior Great Sage Master, Zhou Xiaoling advanced to a Senior Talisman-Warrior Sage Master, and Luo Zhan advanced to an Intermediate Talisman-Warrior Sage Master.
Although the effect of the soul beads from the mutated beings wasn’t very strong, the large quantity helped, and with the help of those beads and Guo Shier’s incantations, their souls grew rapidly.
One day, Guo Shier and the others entered a new continent. Having traversed countless continents and secret realms, they had almost become indifferent to new ones.
The coordinates for this continent were obtained from their inherited memories. It wasn’t until they passed through a secret realm that they realized they could use them. So Guo Shier didn’t hesitate to activate the Cross-Realm Talisman and step inside.
As soon as they stepped out of the talisman gate, they saw a huge city with towering buildings stretching endlessly, as well as talisman towers floating in the air. All kinds of flying vehicles and cars were soaring in the sky. Next to the city was a dense forest, with wide roads visible within it, filled with strange vehicles moving along them.
Guo Shier exclaimed in amazement, “Wow, it’s almost as prosperous as the Ancient Xilong Continent! I wonder what place this is… Come on, let’s go take a look.”

The four of them quickly stepped onto the main road. At that moment, a large cart roared toward them, pulled by a third-level mutated rune beast that resembled a wild ox and moved at great speed. This third-level mutated wild ox was over four meters long and pulled a ten-meter-long cart loaded with cut rocks, which seemed to be building materials.

A burly man sat on the mutated wild ox, waving a rune whip and shouting loudly to urge the beast forward.

Guo Shier said, “It’s not a spirit beast—it’s a tamed beast!”

The four stood by the roadside like country bumpkins, staring in awe at the various vehicles speeding along the road—cargo carts pulled by mutated rune beasts, sleek and beautiful flying cars, and small trailers pulled by humans—all of which gave off a very strange impression.

Eagle Demon sighed, “I really can’t get used to this!”

Having spent most of their time in the continent’s hidden realms where people were rare, let alone in large cities with dense populations, they were all a bit unaccustomed to seeing so many vehicles at once.

After observing for a while, Guo Shier said, “It’s very advanced!”

Luo Zhan asked in confusion, “Advanced? What do you mean?”

Guo Shier was too lazy to explain and said, “Let’s go into the city. Don’t fly—walk there.”

Luo Zhan kept muttering, “Advanced? Advanced? Oh, you go in first… and we follow?”

Guo Shier was speechless. As they walked, he said, “By ‘advanced,’ I mean this place is better than where we are. Uncle, this place isn’t ordinary. We need to be careful. If anything seems off, we should leave right away.”

Eagle Demon said, “Don’t worry. The stricter the rules in a large city, the safer it usually is. I don’t think there’s much danger.”

Although the four were walking, they weren’t slow at all, moving smoothly as if gliding through the air. Soon, they saw large areas of buildings in the city. There were no walls or other defenses; various buildings were casually constructed along the roadsides. The buildings at the edge of the city appeared very simple, mostly made of bluestone and without any rune enchantments, clearly inhabited by ordinary people.

In the distance lay taller buildings. From afar, Guo Shier saw skyscrapers hundreds of meters high, quite different from the high-rises in his past life, but upon closer inspection, they bore a slight resemblance, which gave him a sense of familiarity.

Zhou Xiaoling murmured, “What place is this? It’s so prosperous, with so many vehicles.”

Guo Shier said, “I don’t know. This coordinate is strange—there’s no explanation, not even the name of the continent.”

With no guards or checks, Guo Shier and the other three entered the city easily. The streets of this city were extremely wide—Guo Shier estimated they were at least 200 meters wide. The main roads were covered with spells, yet deep tire tracks remained on the ground. It was unclear what kind of vehicles could leave such deep marks. Just then, a rumbling sound came from behind them. A large vehicle was speeding toward them. Ying Mo turned around and couldn’t help but curse, “Damn… this is a level-6 mutated rune beast!” The level-6 mutated brute ox was over nine meters long, a giant rune beast. The large vehicle it pulled behind was more than 30 meters long, 8-9 meters wide, with a high carriage. Its eight large wheels rolled across the road, emitting a thunderous noise. To Guo Shier, it felt like a train from his past life, rushing toward them with a loud roar. The four of them rushed to the side of the road and watched in awe as the vehicle sped by. Guo Shier couldn’t help but exclaim, “Impressive! They can even train mutated rune beasts… Damn, what kind of place is this?” There were no people on the road; only various vehicles were speeding by, both on land and in the air, all looking very busy. On the vast road, Guo Shier and his group stood out sharply. Ying Mo pointed to a side road and said, “Let’s go there.” They followed the side road, which was no wider than 10 meters, with buildings on both sides. After walking a short distance, they saw a few sparse pedestrians. After crossing this street, they arrived at another street where not a single vehicle was visible—only busy pedestrians. Guo Shier said, “So this is the pedestrian path. The place we were in just now must have been the vehicle path. No wonder there wasn’t a single person.” It gave him the feeling of a city from his past life. Although there were many differences, it still felt comfortable to him. Ying Mo pointed to a place not far away and asked, “What’s that? A restaurant?” Guo Shier looked up and smiled, saying, “No, it seems like a teahouse… Wait, it looks like a small shop for people to rest in. I don’t know what they sell. Let’s go over there and find out what this place is.” It was a shop facing the street, with a small wooden platform and low railings, quite neatly built. Thick animal skins covered the platform, and there were many low tables. Many passersby went up and sat around the tables. It was a place similar to a teahouse.

The four of them stepped onto the platform. A man dressed as a clerk guided them inside, arranged a low table, and asked, “What would you like? Please order.”
Guo Shier said, “What do you have here? Give me an introduction.”
The clerk glanced at him in confusion and said, “There’s only one thing here—Xilong Liquid.”
Guo Shier was surprised and asked, “Xilong Liquid? What is it?”
An middle-aged man sitting nearby heard this and laughed, “Young man, you must be from outside. You don’t even know about Xilong Liquid, haha.”
The clerk wasn’t impatient. He seemed to realize something and said, “No wonder. You’re indeed from outside.” He continued, “Xilong Liquid is a local specialty. Drinking it improves eyesight and clears the mind. It also tastes quite good.”
Guo Shier nodded and said, “Good. Then give us one glass each.”
The clerk nodded and turned to leave. Guo Shier asked the middle-aged man beside him, “May I ask you a few questions?”