Chapter 7: The Start of the Heat Wave (Part 1)

Guo Shier was both annoyed and amused. He said, “This Gu Xi Bi is way too cautious. It went berserk but didn’t charge in—just used its tentacles to grab randomly…”
Elder Shuai said, “Be careful; it might live for ten thousand years. Back then… sigh, better not talk about it. It’s painful to remember. Don’t worry, it will eventually lose control. It can’t resist the scent of a soul’s essence—it will definitely come in.”
Guo Shier laughed, “Men die for wealth; birds die for food.”
Elder Shuai replied, “There’s some truth to that, but not necessarily.” In fact, he agreed with Guo Shier’s view. He couldn’t fully recall what had happened back then, only vaguely remembering that it seemed to have died in this secret realm over some object. Since its soul hadn’t fully recovered, its memories were a bit blurred.
After all, Gu Xi Bi was the soul of an animal. No matter how smart or cautious it was, it eventually fell into Elder Shuai’s scheme and couldn’t resist charging into the talisman array. When its body fully entered the array, Elder Shuai smiled triumphantly and said, “I wasn’t afraid you wouldn’t fall for it. Hehe…” He cast a few spells and said, “Kid, see the power of this talisman array!”
Suddenly, Eagle Demon shouted, “Look! Mist is rising!”
A mist spread from the Ancient Ink Lotus, quickly covering the entire talisman array and spreading outward.
Sitting on the Ancient Ink Lotus, Guo Shier was surprised to find that no mist could block his vision. He could see everything inside the array clearly. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “This array is truly amazing! Elder Shuai, what’s the next step?”
Elder Shuai said, “Wait! Wait for the array to weaken their strength. Hehe, a level-17 soul beast, along with two level-15 soul beasts. Kid, you’re really lucky. There’s enough sacrifice for the altar, and even some surplus.”
Guo Shier had already unlocked some of his inherited memories, the most important of which was about constructing his own virtual altar. But Elder Shuai seemed to have a better method, so he kept waiting to see how Elder Shuai would help him build the altar.
Elder Shuai said, “I really admire you. To obtain the Ancient Ink Lotus at the level of a high-ranking Grand Sage… This thing… was even a rare treasure back in our day. After studying it these past days, I can describe it in just one word: Ancient Ink Lotus… extremely powerful!”
Guo Shier said, “Elder Shuai, it’s two words, okay?”
Elder Shuai replied, “No matter how many words, this thing is truly amazing. The Ancient Ink Lotus… is one of the few treasures in the world with a natural altar structure.”

Guo Shier asked curiously, “Are there any other natural altars?”
The handsome old man replied, “Of course. As far as I know, there are also jade altars formed from sealing spirit jade, but they’re far inferior to your Ancient Ink Lotus. Hmm, right, I once met a guy… uh, I can’t remember who he was. He had a flame altar made entirely of fire. That guy was extremely powerful, and his altar was also naturally formed. I don’t know how he obtained it or how he refined it. Ordinary spirit beasts couldn’t survive on his altar—only fire-type spirit beasts could.”
Guo Shier listened with great interest. Glancing at the Ancient Xi Bi charging around in the talisman array, he said, “An altar formed from fire? Then there must also be natural altars formed from ice?”
The handsome old man said, “That’s right. They all form naturally in secret realms.”
Guo Shier asked, “How many people can obtain natural altars?” As soon as he said it, he realized he’d asked a stupid question. Sure enough, the handsome old man laughed and scolded, “How would I know how many people have obtained natural altars?”
Guo Shier said, “I was wrong. How many people with natural altars have you seen?”
The handsome old man shook his head. “I only remember two. One is the guy with the flame altar, and another guy was also very powerful—he refined an ancient tree into his soul altar. The rest are just hearsay; I’ve never seen them.”
Guo Shier asked, “An ancient tree?”
The handsome old man replied, “It’s an extremely rare Rock Dragon Ancient Tree. Actually, it’s a companion ancient tree that grows from the body of a dead Rock Dragon. After tens of thousands of years of growth, it’s refined by humans to become an ancient tree altar.”
Guo Shier exclaimed, “That works too? It’s truly amazing.”
The handsome old man cast several spells to activate the talisman array and said, “Of course it’s amazing. Natural altars are much more powerful than those refined by oneself. It’s a pity that many professionals with their own altars, even if they find such natural altars, can’t replace or take them. Hehe, many professionals don’t understand the characteristics of natural altars.”
Guo Shier asked, “You know all of this?”
The handsome old man shook his head. “I have memory loss. I only remember part of it. Back then, many people were willing to even abandon refining their own altars just to search for natural altars.”
Guo Shier said, “I won’t do that. I’d rather refine my own altar than go out of my way to search for natural altars. They’re too rare and uncommon. There’s no time to waste on them.”

The handsome old man said, “Everyone can say harsh words. You already have a natural altar, so of course you don’t need to refine your own altar.”
Guo Shier said, “That’s not the case. Getting the Ancient Ink Lotus this time… I didn’t expect it either. You know, I had already prepared the materials to construct a virtual altar. Once things stabilized, I planned to start refining my own altar.”
The handsome old man glanced at the soul beasts in the talisman array and said, “There’s plenty of time now. Tell me what happened back then—how did you get the Ancient Ink Lotus?”
Guo Shier nodded and explained in detail how he obtained the Ancient Ink Lotus.
The handsome old man said, “Those idiots… Boy, your luck is so good it makes me jealous.”
Guo Shier asked, “Why are they idiots?”
The handsome old man replied, “They tried to capture the Ancient Ink Lotus with their own souls, of course it didn’t work. They all have altars, so even if the Ancient Ink Lotus wanted to acknowledge them, it wouldn’t be possible. These fools! They let a professional without an altar collect it. Any senior professional without an altar could have gotten the Ancient Ink Lotus!”
Guo Shier was stunned. He thought his soul was special enough to get the Ancient Ink Lotus. So that was the reason. He inwardly sighed: It’s terrifying to be uneducated!
The handsome old man shook his head with regret, then quickly smiled and said, “It’s good you got the Ancient Ink Lotus. Otherwise, I’d be done for. If I stayed in the altar any longer, in a hundred or so years, I’d completely turn into soul fragments. By then, even if you used the Ancient Ink Lotus to capture me, you wouldn’t get anything.”
Guo Shier thought for a moment and asked, “Handsome Old Man, what are the characteristics of the Ancient Ink Lotus?”
The handsome old man smiled and asked, “Why do you ask that?”
Guo Shier replied, “I’m curious. I only have a very vague understanding of the Ancient Ink Lotus. There’s some information in the ancestral memories, but not much.”
The handsome old man said, “I’m not entirely sure what’s special about the Ancient Ink Lotus. But once a virtual altar is built using it as the core structure, both you and I will understand its characteristics. I’m not sure about the rest, but the Ancient Ink Lotus has one innate skill that’s truly remarkable.”
Guo Shier asked, “What skill is that?”
The handsome old man replied, “Controlling souls!” He added, “This must be the greatest characteristic of the Ancient Ink Lotus. Even I, an old man, have already been completely controlled by it. I can’t leave or resist… Of course, I don’t want to resist either. This place has become my foundation. If the Ancient Ink Lotus is destroyed, I’ll be destroyed along with it.”

Guo Shier also felt the same way. In his soul, there was Gu Mu Lian, and he could sense certain things within it. Back then, when he rescued the old man Shuai from the altar and extracted souls from it, it was all thanks to Gu Mu Lian. He knew he didn’t yet possess such abilities.

The old man Shuai said, “Don’t overthink it. Your Gu Mu Lian can’t control professionals who possess altars.”

Guo Shier was slightly stunned and said, “I never thought about controlling them… Well, just because I can’t do it now doesn’t mean I can’t do it in the future!”

The old man Shuai was taken aback. He might know more about Gu Mu Lian than Guo Shier, but still only to a limited extent. He had to admit Guo Shier’s point and said, “If one could control professionals with altars… that would be terrifying!”

Guo Shier shook his head and said, “There’s no need to overthink it now. Once the virtual altar is built, we’ll be able to figure out some clues.”

The old man Shuai said, “By the way, I need to remind you—your current soul isn’t strong enough to build a virtual altar. You need to find a way to strengthen your soul. Otherwise… once the virtual altar is completed and your soul isn’t strong enough, it will collapse.”

Guo Shier asked, “Collapse? Wouldn’t that mean it’s all over?”

The old man Shuai nodded. “That’s right. You’d be dead then, and the altar would collapse as well. But… given Gu Mu Lian’s strength, it’s likely to form a basic inheritance altar.”

Guo Shier shuddered in fear. “It’s that terrifying?”

The old man Shuai said seriously, “I’m not trying to scare you. I’ve seen many people die at this stage. It’s a huge hurdle. Countless professionals get stuck here and never progress until death.”

Guo Shier asked, “Do you have any good solutions?”

The old man Shuai smiled. “You don’t need to worry. Hehe, as long as there are enough altars…” He didn’t finish his sentence. Guo Shier immediately realized that in the Wild Battle Secret Realm, he had already extracted the souls of many altars. This was a fast way to strengthen his soul, not much different from Qi Nan Shan and Luo Jie’s skills of burning and stealing others’ souls. With enough altars, and thanks to Gu Mu Lian’s miraculous abilities, he could rapidly strengthen his soul.

Although Guo Shier and the old man Shuai were talking, both of them kept their eyes fixed on Gu Xi Bi.

As soon as the Guxi Bì entered the talisman array, it realized it had fallen into a trap. It immediately flew upward in an attempt to escape. But this large talisman array was nothing ordinary—the array used by the old man was an ancient one, extremely powerful. It had barely risen a few meters before crashing back down in disarray, making it rage as it flailed its tentacles wildly.

The other two Spirit Beasts circled within the talisman array, running frantically for over two hours. With such massive bodies, engaging in battle or running wildly consumed a great deal of their spiritual energy. Gradually, the two Spirit Beasts slowed down, and as the mist thickened, they separated and wandered aimlessly within the array.